Deuteronomy 6 · Verse 4

Deuteronomy 6:4

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:
Deuteronomy 6:4, King James Version

Deuteronomy 6:4 in other translations

BSBHear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.
WEBHear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one.
ASVHear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
YLT‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
DARBYHear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah;
BBEGive ear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord:
WebsterHear, O Israel: the LORD our God is one LORD:

What does Deuteronomy 6:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 6:1-9

De 6:1-25. Moses Exhorts Israel to Hear God and to Keep His Commandments. 1-9. Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them ... whither ye go to possess it--The grand design of all the institutions prescribed to Israel was to form a religious people, whose national character should be distinguished by that fear of the Lord…

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 6:1-9 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 Hear, O Israel - שמע ישראל יהוה אלהינו יהוה אחד shema Yisrael, Yehovah Eloheinu, Yehovah achad. These words may be variously rendered into English; but almost all possible verbal varieties in the translation (and there can be none other) amount to the same sense: "Israel, hear! Jehovah, our God, is one Jehovah;" or, "Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one;" or, "Jehovah is our God, Jehovah alone;" or, "Jehovah is our God, Jehovah who is one;" or, "Jehovah, who is our God, is the one Being." On this verse the Jews lay great stress; it is one of the four passages which they write on their phylacteries, and they write the last letter in the first and last words very large, for the purpose of exciting attention to the weighty truth it contains. It is perhaps in reference to this custom of the Jews that our blessed Lord alludes, Mat 22:38; Mar 12:29, Mar 12:30, where he says, This is the first and great commandment; and this is nearly the comment that Maimonides gives on this place: "Hear, O Israel; because in these words the property, the love, and the doctrine of God are contained." Many think that Moses teaches in these words the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity. It may be so; but if so, it is not more clearly done than in the first verse of Genesis, to which the reader is referred. When this passage occurs in the Sabbath readings in the synagogue, the whole congregation repeat the last word אחד achad for several minutes together with the loudest vociferations: this I suppose they do to vent a little of their spleen against the Christians, for they suppose the latter hold three Gods, because of their doctrine of the Trinity; but all their skill and cunning can never prove that there is not a plurality expressed in the word אלהינו Eloheinu, which is translated our God; and were the Christians, when reading this verse, to vociferate Eloheinu for several minutes as the Jews do achad, it would apply more forcibly in the way of conviction to the Jews of the plurality of persons in the Godhead, than the word achad, of one, against any pretended false tenet of Christianity, as every Christian receives the doctrine of the unity of God in the most conscientious manner. It is because of their rejection of this doctrine that the wrath of God continues to rest on them; for the doctrine of the atonement cannot be received, unless the doctrine of the Godhead of Christ is received too. Some Christians have joined the Jews against this doctrine, and some have even outdone them, and have put themselves to extraordinary pains to prove that אלהים Elohim is a noun of the singular number! This has not yet been proved. It would be as easy to prove that there is no plural in language.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy 6:4-5
Here is a brief summary of religion, containing the first principles of faith and obedience. Jehovah our God is the only living and true God; he only is God, and he is but One God. Let us not desire to have any other. The three-fold mention of the Divine names, and the plural number of the word translated God, seem plainly to intimate a Trinity of persons, even in this express declaration of the unity of the Godhead. Happy those who have this one Lord for their God. It is better to have one fountain than a thousand cisterns; one all-sufficient God than a thousand insufficient friends. This is the first and great commandment of God's law, that we love him; and that we do all parts of our duty to him from a principle of love; My son, give me thine heart. We are to love God with all our heart, and soul, and might. That is, 1. With a sincere love; not in word and tongue only, but inwardly in truth. 2. With a strong love. He that is our All, must have our all, and none but he. 3. With a superlative love; we must love God above any creature whatever, and love nothing but what we love for him. 4. With an intelligent love. To love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, we must see good cause to love him. 5. With an entire love; he is ONE, our hearts must be united in his love. Oh that this love of God may be shed abroad in our hearts!

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Deuteronomy 6:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שְׁמַ֖עshe.Ma'hearH8085
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'ElO IsraelH3478
יְהוָ֥הYah.wehYahwehH3068
אֱלֹהֵ֖ינוּ'e.lo.Hei.nuGod ourH430
יְהוָ֥ה\׀Yah.wehYahwehH3068
אֶחָֽד\׃'e.Chad[is] oneH259

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Deuteronomy 6:4

  • Mark 12:29-32

    And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:

  • Isaiah 44:6

    Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.

  • 1 Timothy 2:5

    For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

  • Isaiah 45:5-6

    I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.

  • John 17:3

    And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

  • John 10:30

    I and my Father are one.

  • Isaiah 44:8

    Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any.

  • Isaiah 42:8

    I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

  • Deuteronomy 4:35-36

    Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him. Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

  • 1 Corinthians 8:4-6

    As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

  • Jeremiah 10:10-11

    But the Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation. Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, and from under these heavens.

  • 1 Kings 18:21

    And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
{Shema Yisraêl, Yehowah, Elohainoo, Yehowah aichod,} "Hear, Israel, Jehovah, our God,is one Jehovah." On this passage the Jews lay great stress; and it is one of the four passages which they write on their phylacteries: On the word {Elohim,} Simeon Ben Joachi says: "Come and see the mystery of the word {Elohim:} there are three degrees, and each degree is by itself alone, and yet they are all one, and joined together in one, and are not divided from each other."
the Lord,
4:35,36; 5:6; 1Ki 18:21; 2Ki 19:5; 1Ch 29:10; Isa 42:8; 44:6,8
Isa 45:5,6; Jer 10:10,11; Mr 12:29-32; Joh 17:3; 1Co 8:4-6
1Ti 2:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Deuteronomy 6:3

    Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

  • Deuteronomy 6:4

    Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:

  • Deuteronomy 6:5

    And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Read all of Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Oye, Israel: Jehová nuestro Dios, Jehová uno es:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Écoute, Israël: L’ Éternel, notre Dieu, est un seul Éternel.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Höre Israel: Jehova, unser Gott, ist ein einziger Jehova!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Audi, Israël: Dominus Deus noster, Dominus unus est.