דברים 6:13

Hebrew Modern Translation

את יהוה אלהיך תירא ואתו תעבד ובשמו תשבע׃

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Aleppo Codex
את יהוה אלהיך תירא ואתו תעבד ובשמו תשבע

Biblia Hebrica Stuttgartensia (1967/77)
אֶת־יְהוָ֧ה אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ תִּירָ֖א וְאֹתֹ֣ו תַעֲבֹ֑ד וּבִשְׁמֹ֖ו תִּשָּׁבֵֽעַ ׃

Westminster Leningrad Codex
אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ תִּירָא וְאֹתוֹ תַעֲבֹד וּבִשְׁמוֹ תִּשָּׁבֵֽעַ ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

fear: Deuteronomy 6:2, Deuteronomy 5:29, Deuteronomy 10:12, Deuteronomy 10:20, Deuteronomy 13:4, Matthew 4:10, Luke 4:8

and serve him: Our Saviour quotes these words thus: "And him only (בץפש לןםש), shalt thou serve;" from which it would appear, that the word levaddo was anciently in the Hebrew Text, as it was in the Septuagint, Coptic, Vulgate (illi soli), and Anglo-Saxon. Dr. Kennicott argues that without the word only, the text would not have conclusive for the purpose for which our Lord advanced it. It is proper, however, to observe, that the word levaddo is not found in any manuscript yet collated, though retained in the above versions.

shalt swear: Leviticus 19:12, Joshua 2:12, Psalms 15:4, Psalms 63:11, Isaiah 45:23, Isaiah 65:16, Jeremiah 4:2, Jeremiah 5:2, Jeremiah 5:7, Jeremiah 12:16

Reciprocal: Genesis 21:23 - swear Genesis 24:3 - swear Genesis 31:53 - fear Genesis 42:15 - By the life Exodus 23:25 - And ye Deuteronomy 5:11 - General Deuteronomy 28:58 - fear this glorious 1 Samuel 7:3 - serve him 1 Samuel 20:3 - sware 1 Kings 8:40 - fear thee 2 Kings 17:36 - him shall ye fear 2 Chronicles 30:8 - serve Nehemiah 13:25 - made them Isaiah 48:1 - which swear

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him,.... Serve him through fear; not through slavish fear, a fear of hell and damnation; but through filial fear, a reverential affection for that God that had brought them out of a state of bondage into great and glorious liberty, out of Egypt into Canaan's land, out of a place of misery into a land of plenty; and therefore should fear the Lord and his goodness, and from such a fear of him serve him, in every part of worship, public and private, enjoined; this passage Christ refers to Matthew 4:10

and shalt swear by his name; when they made a covenant with any, or were called to bear a testimony for the decision of any controversy which could not be otherwise finished; or whenever they took an oath on any account, which should never be taken rashly or on any trivial account, and much less falsely; it should be taken not in the name of any idol, or of any other but the true and living God; the Targum of Jonathan is,

"in the name of the Word of the Lord, in truth ye shall swear.''

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Israelites were at the point of quitting a normal, life for a fixed and settled abode in the midst of other nations; they were exchanging a condition of comparative poverty for great and goodly cities, houses and vineyards. There was therefore before them a double danger;

(1) a God-forgetting worldliness, and

(2) a false tolerance of the idolatries practiced by those about to become their neighbors.

The former error Moses strives to guard against in the verses before us; the latter in Deuteronomy 7:1-11.

Deuteronomy 6:13

The command “to swear by His Name” is not inconsistent with the Lord’s injunction Matthew 5:34, “Swear not at all.” Moses refers to legal swearing, our Lord to swearing in common conversation. It is not the purpose of Moses to encourage the practice of taking oaths, but to forbid that, when taken, they should be taken in any other name than that of Israel’s God. The oath involves an invocation of Deity, and so a solemn recognition of Him whose Name is made use of in it. Hence, it comes especially within the scope of the commandment Moses is enforcing.

Deuteronomy 6:25

It shall be our righteousness - i. e., God will esteem us as righteous and deal with us accordingly. From the very beginning made Moses the whole righteousness of the Law to depend entirely on a right state of the heart, in one word, upon faith.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 6:13. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God — Thou shalt respect and reverence him as thy Lawgiver and Judge; as thy Creator, Preserver, and the sole object of thy religious adoration.

And serve him — Our blessed Lord, in Matthew 4:10; Luke 4:8, quotes these words thus: And him ONLY (αυτω μονω) shalt thou serve. It appears, therefore, that לבדו lebaddo was anciently in the Hebrew text, as it was and is in the SEPTUAGINT, (αυτωμονω,) from which our Lord quoted it. The COPTIC preserves the same reading; so do also the VULGATE, (illi soli,) and the ANGLO-SAXON, ([Anglo-Saxon]) Dr. Kennicott argues, that without the word only the text would not have been conclusive for the purpose for which our Lord advanced it; for as we learn from Scripture that some men worshipped false gods in conjunction with the true, the quotation here would not have been full to the point without this exclusive word. It may be proper to observe that the omitted word לבדו lebaddo, retained in the above versions, does not exist in the Hebrew printed text, nor in any MS. hitherto discovered.

Shalt swear by his name. — תשבע tishshabea, from שבע shaba, he was full, satisfied, or gave that which was full or satisfactory. Hence an oath and swearing, because appealing to God, and taking him for witness in any case of promise, c., gave full and sufficient security for the performance and if done in evidence, or to the truth of any particular fact, it gave full security for the truth of that evidence. An oath, therefore, is an appeal to God, who knows all things, of the truth of the matter in question: and when a religious man takes such an oath, he gives full and reasonable satisfaction that the thing is so, as stated; for it is ever to be presumed that no man, unless in a state of the deepest degradation, would make such an appeal falsely, for this would imply an attempt to make God a party in the deception.