Hear, O Israel
Deuteronomy · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 52ceac6b62c9ecdc · No editorial review date recorded
Date: c. 1406 BC · Year 40, month 11 (Deuteronomy 1:3). Dated from 1 Kings 6:1 (the Exodus c. 1446 BC). Many scholars instead date the Exodus to about 1260 BC, placing these speeches about 1220 BC.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. Israel is to love the LORD with all their heart, soul and strength, keep his words on their hearts, and teach them to their children at home and on the road. When they enjoy cities and vineyards they did not build or plant, they must not forget the LORD; and when their children ask what the laws mean, they are to tell the story of the Exodus.
Deuteronomy records Moses’ last speeches to the new generation of Israel on the plains of Moab, in the fortieth year after the Exodus (1:3). It looks back over the journey from Egypt and Horeb and forward to life in the land, calling Israel to love the LORD and remember what he has done. Each section below lists what Moses recalls, with links to those events on the timeline, and where the rest of Scripture takes up the passage.
The Ten Commandments, the great commandment, and the statutes for life in the land, ending with blessings and curses (4:44–28:68).
Primary Scripture
6:1 These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,
6:2 so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.
6:3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.
6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
6:6 These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.
6:7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
6:8 Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
6:9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
6:10 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,
6:11 with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,
6:12 be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
6:13 Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.
6:14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.
6:15 For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.
6:16 Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.
6:17 You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you.
6:18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers,
6:19 driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD has said.
6:20 In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”
6:21 then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
6:22 Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.
6:23 But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.
6:24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day.
6:25 And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”
Moses looks back
The land sworn to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Testing the LORD at Massah.
Signs and wonders against Egypt.
Where Scripture takes it up
Jesus names this the most important commandment.
Temple debates, warnings and the widow’s gift
Jesus answers the tempter with Deuteronomy 6:16.
Jesus answers the tempter with Deuteronomy 6:13.
Location evidence
Plains of Moab: Approximate region. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [35.64, 31.85]. Classification source: editorial.
Illustrative regional extent: [[35.56,31.77],[35.7,31.91]]; not a measured confidence interval.
Numbers 33:48–49 · extent of the camp
For the class
What would it look like to talk about God’s words when you walk along the road?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial
Study guide: original editorial writing for Scripture Atlas.
Place coordinates: OpenBible.info, CC BY 4.0.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm