Deuteronomy 6:4

The Essence of the Covenant Principles

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ¹ 

Deuteronomy 6:2

6:2 and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments ²  that I am giving ³  you – you, your children, and your grandchildren – all your lives, to prolong your days.

Deuteronomy 19:15

19:15 A single witness may not testify ⁴  against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established ⁵  only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Deuteronomy 19:19

19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge ⁶  evil from among you.

Psalms 86:10

86:10 For you are great and do amazing things.

You alone are God.

Isaiah 37:16

37:16 “O Lord who commands armies, O God of Israel, who is enthroned on the cherubim! ⁷  You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the sky ⁸  and the earth.

Isaiah 37:20

37:20 Now, O Lord our God, rescue us from his power, so all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the Lord.” ⁹ 

Isaiah 43:10

43:10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,

“my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may consider ¹⁰  and believe in me,

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and none will outlive me. ¹¹ 

Isaiah 44:6

The Absurdity of Idolatry

44:6 This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says,

their protector, ¹²  the Lord who commands armies:

“I am the first and I am the last,

there is no God but me.

Isaiah 44:8

44:8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! ¹³ 

Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it?

You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me?

There is no other sheltering rock; ¹⁴  I know of none.

Mark 12:29-30

12:29 Jesus answered, “The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 12:30 Love ¹⁵  the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ¹⁶ 

John 10:30

10:30 The Father and I ¹⁷  are one.” ¹⁸ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women.

² tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.

³ tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

⁴ tn Heb “rise up” (likewise in v. 16).

⁵ tn Heb “may stand.”

⁶ tn Heb “you will burn out” (בִּעַרְתָּ, bi’arta). Like a cancer, unavenged sin would infect the whole community. It must, therefore, be excised by the purging out of its perpetrators who, presumably, remained unrepentant (cf. Deut 13:6; 17:7, 12; 21:21; 22:21-22, 24; 24:7).

⁷ sn Cherubim (singular “cherub”) refers to the images of winged angelic creatures that were above the ark of the covenant.

⁸ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

⁹ tn The parallel text in 2 Kgs 19:19 reads, “that you, Lord, are the only God.”

¹⁰ tn Or “know” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

¹¹ tn Heb “and after me, there will not be”; NASB “there will be none after Me.”

¹² tn Heb “his kinsman redeemer.” See the note at 41:14.

¹³ tn BDB 923 s.v. רָהָה derives this verb from an otherwise unattested root, while HALOT 403 s.v. יָרָה defines it as “be stupefied” on the basis of an Arabic cognate. The form is likely a corruption of תיראו, the reading attested in the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a.

¹⁴ tn Heb “rock” or “rocky cliff,” a title that depicts God as a protective refuge in his role as sovereign king; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “You will love.” The future indicative is used here with imperatival force (see ExSyn 452 and 569).

¹⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 6:4-5 and Josh 22:5 (LXX). The fourfold reference to different parts of the person says, in effect, that one should love God with all one’s being.

¹⁷ tn Grk “I and the Father.” The order has been reversed to reflect English style.

¹⁸ tn The phrase ἕν ἐσμεν ({en esmen) is a significant assertion with trinitarian implications. ἕν is neuter, not masculine, so the assertion is not that Jesus and the Father are one person, but one “thing.” Identity of the two persons is not what is asserted, but essential unity (unity of essence).