The Shema in English

Read the first paragraph of the Shema, Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9, in Hebrew with the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation beneath each verse and an explanation of each. Below the text you will find when the Shema is said, what its three paragraphs contain, and the customs that go with it.

Edition:: The Masoretic Hebrew text of Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9 with the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917, checked verse by verse against Mechon Mamre's Hebrew-English Bible.
Written: October 23, 2026

Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9: the first paragraph of the Shema

In Deuteronomy, Moses speaks to Israel before the people enter the land. These six verses are the first of the Shema's three paragraphs. Each verse is shown in Hebrew with the 1917 JPS English beneath it and our explanation below.

Edition: Hebrew: the Masoretic text. English: the Jewish Publication Society translation of 1917. Both checked verse by verse against Mechon Mamre's Hebrew-English Bible.

Deuteronomy 6:4
שְׁמַע, יִשְׂרָאֵל: יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ, יְהוָה אֶחָד.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one.
Meaning: Shema means hear, but also listen, understand, and take to heart. The verse calls on Israel, the whole people, to affirm that the LORD is our God and that the LORD is echad, one. In a Torah scroll the last letters of shema and echad are written large; together they spell ed, witness.
Deuteronomy 6:5
וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ, וּבְכָל־מְאֹדֶךָ.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Meaning: V'ahavta, you shall love the LORD your God. Since love is commanded, it is understood as loyalty in deeds as well as feeling. The Mishnah reads the three phrases: with all your heart, with both good and bad impulses; with all your soul, even at the cost of life; with all your might, with all your possessions.
Deuteronomy 6:6
וְהָיוּ הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוְּךָ הַיּוֹם, עַל־לְבָבֶךָ.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thy heart;
Meaning: These words, which I command you this day, are to be al levavecha, upon your heart: learned, remembered, and made part of who you are. Rashi, reading this day, teaches that the commandments should feel as fresh as if given today, not like an old decree.
Deuteronomy 6:7
וְשִׁנַּנְתָּם לְבָנֶיךָ, וְדִבַּרְתָּ בָּם, בְּשִׁבְתְּךָ בְּבֵיתֶךָ וּבְלֶכְתְּךָ בַדֶּרֶךְ, וּבְשָׁכְבְּךָ וּבְקוּמֶךָ.
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Meaning: V'shinantam, teach them diligently, comes from a root meaning to sharpen, and Rashi explains that the words should be sharp and ready on your tongue. They belong at home and on the road. From when you lie down and when you rise up, the rabbis learned to say the Shema evening and morning.
Deuteronomy 6:8
וּקְשַׁרְתָּם לְאוֹת, עַל־יָדֶךָ; וְהָיוּ לְטֹטָפֹת, בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.
Meaning: Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be totafot, frontlets, between your eyes. Jewish tradition fulfills this with tefillin: small black leather boxes holding this passage and three others on parchment, bound with straps on the arm and worn above the forehead during weekday morning prayer.
Deuteronomy 6:9
וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל־מְזֻזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ, וּבִשְׁעָרֶיךָ.
And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.
Meaning: Write them on the mezuzot, the doorposts, of your house and on your gates. A mezuzah, named after the doorpost itself, is a small handwritten parchment holding this passage and Deuteronomy 11:13 to 21, rolled into a case and fixed to the right-hand doorpost of a Jewish home.

What Kriat Shema is

Kriat Shema, the reading of the Shema, is the declaration at the heart of Jewish prayer, named after its first word, shema, hear. Jews say it in the evening and morning services, following the passage itself, "when thou liest down, and when thou risest up," and in each service it is framed by blessings before and after.

It is said again at bedtime, often with children, who learn its first verse as one of their first prayers. By long tradition it is also among the last words a Jew says before death. The Talmud tells that Rabbi Akiva, put to death by the Romans, died reciting it, his final breath on the word echad.

The three paragraphs

The Shema as said in prayer is made of three passages from the Torah. Only the first is shown on this page; the other two follow it in the prayer book.

The rabbis saw an order in the three. The first paragraph is the acceptance of God's kingship, which they called taking on the yoke of the kingdom of heaven; the second is the acceptance of the commandments; and the third adds a daily reminder and the memory of the Exodus.

Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9: God's oneness, the love of God with heart, soul, and might, and the instructions to teach these words, bind them, and write them on the doorposts.
Deuteronomy 11:13 to 21: Addressed to the people as a whole, it links faithfulness with rain and harvest in the land and repeats the instructions to teach, bind, and write.
Numbers 15:37 to 41: The command to wear tzitzit, fringes on the corners of a garment, as a reminder of the commandments, ending with the Exodus from Egypt.

A quiet response after the first verse

After the first verse, before going on to v'ahavta, Jews add a line in an undertone: Baruch shem kevod malchuto le'olam va'ed, roughly "blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever." It is not part of the verse or of the Torah but a rabbinic response, and many prayer books print it in small type to show the difference.

Rabbinic tradition gives two accounts of its origin. In one, it was the people's response in the Temple when they heard the divine name spoken; in the other, the dying patriarch Jacob said it when his sons assured him that they shared his faith. Because it is not written in the Torah, it is said quietly, except once a year, on Yom Kippur, when it is said aloud.

Covering the eyes

Many Jews cover their eyes with the right hand while saying the first verse. The custom goes back to the Talmud, which tells that Rabbi Judah the Prince, the editor of the Mishnah, put his hand over his eyes as he said it. Shutting out the world helps the speaker attend to the words alone.

The Talmud also encourages lingering over the last word, echad, while thinking of God's rule over heaven and earth and the four directions. The first verse is the part of the Shema that most requires kavanah, full attention, so it is said slowly and with care.

Tefillin and the mezuzah

Jewish tradition reads the instructions in verses 8 and 9 literally. Tefillin are two small boxes of black leather, each holding parchment written by hand with four passages from the Torah: Exodus 13:1 to 10 and 13:11 to 16, and the first two paragraphs of the Shema. One is bound on the arm, facing the heart, and the other is placed on the head above the forehead.

The mezuzah holds the first two paragraphs of the Shema, written by a trained scribe on a single piece of parchment and placed in a case on the right-hand doorpost of a Jewish home, and often of the rooms within it. Many people touch the mezuzah as they pass through the door, a small daily act of remembering.

The meaning of echad

Echad is the ordinary Hebrew word for one, and the Shema uses it to say something extraordinary. Jewish thought has drawn several meanings from it: that God is one and not many, unique and like nothing else, and a unity, not divided into parts. Maimonides made the unity of God one of the foundational principles of Jewish faith.

The verse can also be read as a statement of loyalty: Israel is to serve the LORD and no other. Rashi read it as looking toward the future, when the LORD, now known as our God, will be acknowledged by all peoples as the one God. The 1917 translation, "the LORD our God, the LORD is one," leaves room for all of these readings.

Frequently asked questions

When is the Shema said?

In the evening and morning services every day, and again at bedtime. The times come from the passage itself, which speaks of when you lie down and when you rise up. Jewish law sets time limits for each recitation, and a prayer book or a rabbi can explain them.

What is the line said quietly after the first verse?

Baruch shem kevod malchuto le'olam va'ed, blessed be the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever. It is a rabbinic response rather than a verse of the Torah, so it is said in an undertone except on Yom Kippur.

Can the Shema be said in English?

The Mishnah lists the Shema among the prayers that may be said in any language, and later codes of Jewish law allow any language the speaker understands, though most communities say it in Hebrew and many authorities prefer Hebrew. A rabbi can advise on your own practice.

What is inside tefillin and a mezuzah?

Tefillin contain four handwritten passages: Exodus 13:1 to 10 and 13:11 to 16, and Deuteronomy 6:4 to 9 and 11:13 to 21. A mezuzah contains the two passages from Deuteronomy, the first two paragraphs of the Shema.

Sources

The text above was checked line by line against these public-domain editions. The explanations are our own.

Deuteronomy 6, Hebrew with the JPS 1917 English (Mechon Mamre)