Deuteronomy 6:5

Summary

Deuteronomy 6:5 commands love toward Yehovah using a sequential verb form that continues a chain of instructions. The love required is described through three parallel prepositional phrases marking totality — heart, being, and strength — each governed by the same construct pattern "all of."

Key words

• 'A.hav.ta ("you will love", H0157G) — qal perfect with sequential force, linking this command to the preceding verses as part of a continuous instruction.
• Yah.weh ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine name functioning as the direct object of the love command, marked by the particle 'et (H0853).
• le.va.ve.kha ("your heart", H3824 + H9021) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, first of three domains named.
• naf.she.kha ("your being", H5315G + H9021) — construct noun with suffix; nefesh denotes the whole living self, not only an emotional interior.
• me.'o.De.kha ("your strength", H3966 + H9021) — construct form with suffix, completing the triad of totality.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to 'A.hav.ta, showing that this instruction continues directly from what precedes it rather than standing as an isolated command. The verb is qal perfect used with sequential (vav-consecutive-like) force, common in legal and instructional Hebrew style, meaning it functions here as a directive rather than a simple past report of an event.

The object of the verb is Yehovah 'elohekha ("Yehovah your God"), marked explicitly by the untranslated object marker 'et. The phrase 'elohekha is a plural construct noun with the second-person suffix, literally "God of you," a standard construct pattern in Hebrew even though the referent is singular.

The threefold structure that follows — be-khol levavkha, u-be-khol nafshekha, u-be-khol me'odekha — repeats the same syntactic frame: preposition be ("with/in"), the construct noun khol ("all of"), and a bound noun with pronominal suffix. Each phrase names a different domain: lev ("heart") as the construct base of "heart," nefesh ("being/life") denoting the whole living self, and me'od ("strength" or "muchness") an adverbial-type noun used here nominally to indicate intensity or capacity. The repeated construct chain khol + noun + suffix produces a cumulative, escalating sense of totality across three named aspects.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders me'od ("strength", H3966) with dynameōs ("power/ability"), while the Vulgate uses fortitudine ("strength/fortitude"), both matching the general sense of capacity rather than a literal "muchness." The LXX also translates lev ("heart") as dianoias ("mind/understanding"), whereas the Vulgate keeps corde ("heart"), reflecting different lexical choices for the same Hebrew construct noun levav (H3824).