The Shema is the foundational confession of Israel’s faith, beginning with the words “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
Found in Deuteronomy 6:4-9, it calls God’s people to exclusive loyalty to the Lord and to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength.
Jesus identified the command to love God in the Shema as the greatest commandment.
It remains a central declaration of monotheism and wholehearted devotion to God.
The Shema takes its name from the first Hebrew word of Deuteronomy 6:4 — shema, meaning “hear” or “listen.” Moses spoke these words as Israel prepared to enter the land, charging the people to remain faithful to the Lord alone. The confession affirms that Yahweh is the one true God and calls for a total response of love and obedience. It was to be taught diligently to children, spoken of in daily life, bound on the hand and forehead, and written on the doorposts of the house. In later Jewish practice the Shema became a daily prayer and a summary of the faith. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment, He quoted the Shema and joined it with the command to love one’s neighbor, declaring that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two. For Christians, the Shema continues to call for exclusive devotion to the one God, now revealed fully in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and for a love that engages the whole person.
- The Shema begins with a call to hear — to listen with the intention of obeying.
- It affirms the exclusive oneness of God: the Lord is one, and He alone is to be worshiped.
- The required response is love — not partial, but with all the heart, soul, and strength.
- The words were to shape daily life, family instruction, and the very environment of the home.
- Jesus treated the Shema as the greatest commandment and linked it inseparably to love for neighbor.
- The oneness of God does not contradict the later revelation of the Trinity; it affirms that there is only one God who is worthy of worship.
- The Shema remains a call to undivided loyalty and wholehearted love for God in every generation.
- The Call to Hear – “Shema” means listen with the purpose of responding in obedience.
- The Confession of Oneness – The Lord our God, the Lord is one — exclusive monotheism.
- The Command to Love – Love the Lord with all heart, soul, and strength — total devotion.
- Daily and Generational Transmission – Teach the words diligently to children and speak of them in ordinary life.
- Visible Reminders – Bind them as a sign on the hand and forehead; write them on doorposts and gates.
- Jesus’ Affirmation – Identified as the greatest commandment and joined with love of neighbor.
- Enduring Call – Continues to summon God’s people to exclusive, wholehearted love for Him.
- Deuteronomy 6:4-9 – “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
- Deuteronomy 6:4 – The core confession: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
- Mark 12:28-31 – Jesus answers the question about the greatest commandment by quoting the Shema and adding Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Matthew 22:37-40 – Parallel account: the great and first commandment is to love God with all the heart, soul, and mind; the second is like it.
- Luke 10:27 – The lawyer answers Jesus by combining the love of God (Shema) and the love of neighbor.
- Deuteronomy 11:13-21 – A related passage that expands the call to love and serve the Lord and to keep His words before the people.
- Joshua 22:5 – Joshua charges the people to love the Lord, walk in all His ways, and serve Him with all the heart and soul.
- 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 – Paul affirms that there is no God but one, and that for believers there is one God, the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ.
- Ephesians 4:4-6 – “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all…”
- James 2:19 – “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.”
The Shema is one of the most important sentences in all of Scripture. It calls every generation to hear the truth that the Lord is one and to respond with a love that holds nothing back. Jesus Himself placed it at the center of the life of discipleship and joined it to the love of neighbor. For the people of God today the call remains the same: listen, confess that there is one God, and love Him with all that you are. Let these words shape the heart, the home, the daily conversation, and the training of the next generation. The Lord our God, the Lord is one — and He is worthy of all our love.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.