My LORD’s BibleWhat Is the Shema?
Recited daily by observant Jews for millennia and quoted by Jesus as the greatest commandment in all the law — the Shema is the closest thing Israel's faith has to a creed, and it opens with a single, uncompromising claim about who God is.
"Hear, O Israel"
The Shema takes its name from its opening Hebrew word, "hear" (shema). It is not a prayer of request but a declaration — Israel's central statement of monotheism, commanding total devotion to the one God it names.
The declaration itself:
Deuteronomy 6:4–5
Read in full chapter →4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
See also: The Letter of Aristeas 6:6, Mark 12:29-32
5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
See also: Mark 12:30, Matthew 22:37
The passage continues immediately into practical instruction — teaching the words diligently to children, talking of them constantly, and binding them physically to hand and forehead, the verses behind phylacteries and the doorpost practice of mezuzot (see the companion article on phylacteries and tzitzit for how literally that instruction was taken).
The instruction that follows:
Deuteronomy 6:8–9
Read in full chapter →8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
See also: The Letter of Aristeas 6:48, Proverbs 7:3
9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
See also: Deuteronomy 11:20, Isaiah 30:8
Jesus names it the greatest commandment
Asked directly which commandment in the law matters most, Jesus does not compose a new answer — he quotes the Shema verbatim, word for word from Deuteronomy 6.
His answer to the scribe's question:
Mark 12:29–30
Read in full chapter →29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
See also: Matthew 22:37, Deuteronomy 6:4
30And 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.
See also: Deuteronomy 6:5, Luke 10:27
The scribe who asked the question agrees with him completely, going further to say that loving God this way outweighs the entire sacrificial system.
The scribe's own restatement and its striking conclusion:
Mark 12:32–33
Read in full chapter →32And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
See also: Amos 5:24, Deuteronomy 4:39
33And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
See also: 1 Samuel 15:22, Matthew 22:37
Jesus's response to that answer:
Mark 12:34
Read in full chapter →34And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
See also: Colossians 4:6, Matthew 22:46
The oldest daily prayer still recited
Observant Jews have recited the Shema in morning and evening prayer for over two thousand years, making it one of the longest continuously practiced acts of worship in any tradition still active today. That Jesus is recorded quoting it as the greatest commandment places him squarely inside that same, unbroken devotional practice rather than replacing it — the newness of his teaching in that exchange was in pairing it with loving one's neighbour as a second commandment "like unto it" (Matthew 22:39), not in the Shema itself.
Common questions
- What does "Shema" mean?
- It's the Hebrew word for "hear," the opening word of Deuteronomy 6:4 — "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" — which gives the whole passage its name.
- Why is the Shema important?
- It is Israel's central declaration of monotheism and total devotion to God, recited daily by observant Jews for millennia, and it is the passage Jesus quotes when asked to name the greatest commandment in the law.
- Did Jesus quote the Shema?
- Yes, word for word, in Mark 12:29-30, when a scribe asks him which commandment is first of all. He answers by quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5 directly.
- How does the Shema connect to phylacteries and tzitzit?
- The verses immediately following the Shema's opening declaration (Deuteronomy 6:8-9) command binding God's words to hand and forehead and writing them on doorposts — the direct scriptural basis for phylacteries and, alongside Numbers 15, for the practice of visible reminders of the law.