Deuteronomy 11:1
in Deuteronomy 11You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore thou shalt love Jehovah thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his ordinances, and his commandments, alway.
KJV
Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 11
Commentary
5 notes on this verseIn sum, he exhorts them that, being invited by God's love, they should love him in return. Meanwhile, it is well to observe that free affection is the foundation and beginning of duly obeying the Law, for what is drawn forth by constraint, or servile fear, cannot please God.
This site's exposition
You shall therefore love the LORD your God
on Deuteronomy 11:1-3
Verse 2 divides the audience, for Moses speaks to the men who saw "the discipline of the LORD your God", not their children. The word rendered discipline carries teaching with correction, so what those men watched in Egypt was their schooling.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God,.... Because he is so great and glorious in himself, and because he had done such great and good things for them, the Israelites, particularly in the multiplication of them, the last thing mentioned: and keep his charge; whatsoever the Lord had charged them to observe, even what follow: and his statutes and his judgments, and his commandments, alway; all his laws, ceremonial, judicial, and moral; and that constantly and continually, all the days of their lives.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge--The reason for the frequent repetition of the same or similar counsels is to be traced to the infantine character and state of the church, which required line upon line and precept upon precept.
Thou shalt love the Lord - Because without this there could be no obedience to the Divine testimonies, and no happiness in the soul; for the heart that is destitute of the love of God, is empty of all good, and consequently miserable. See the note on Deu 10:12.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
AND THOU SHALT KEEP HIS CHARGE — to fear Him, that you be heedful of sinning against Him. For after enjoining them concerning the love of G-d, 272 At the beginning of this verse: And thou shalt love the Eternal thy G-d.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔ | veahavta | and you will love | H157 → | 211 times |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְהוָ֣ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣ | veshamarta | and you will keep | H8104 → | 468 times |
| מִשְׁמַרְתּ֗וֹ | mishmarto | command his | H4931 → | |
| וְחֻקֹּתָ֧יו | vechukotav | and statutes his | H2708 → | 104 times |
| וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֛יו | umishpatav | and judgments his | H4941 → | 422 times |
| וּמִצְוֹתָ֖יו | umitzvotav | and commandments his | H4687 → | 181 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַיָּמִֽים׃ | haiyamim | the days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
וְאָ֣הַבְתָּ֔and you will love
veahavtaH157 →211 times
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
יְהוָ֣הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
וְשָׁמַרְתָּ֣and you will keep
veshamartaH8104 →468 times
מִשְׁמַרְתּ֗וֹcommand his
mishmartoH4931 →
וְחֻקֹּתָ֧יוand statutes his
vechukotavH2708 →104 times
וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֛יוand judgments his
umishpatavH4941 →422 times
וּמִצְוֹתָ֖יוand commandments his
umitzvotavH4687 →181 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַיָּמִֽים׃the days
haiyamimH3117 →2304 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 6:5And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
it leads to
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Mark 12:30
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
- Matthew 22:37
Jesus declared, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
- Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
- Deuteronomy 30:6
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
- Luke 10:27
Through
Deuteronomy 10:12And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…
it leads to
- Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Deuteronomy 6:5
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
- Deuteronomy 5:33
You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
- Micah 6:8
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Obedience35 verses
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.