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(A)Hear, O Israel![a] The Lord is our God, the Lord alone!

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Footnotes

  1. 6:4 Hear, O Israel!: in Hebrew, shema yisra’el; hence this passage (vv. 4–9), containing the Great Commandment, is called the Shema. In later Jewish tradition, 11:13–21 and Nm 15:37–41 were added to form a prayer recited every evening and morning. The Lord is our God, the Lord alone: other possible translations are “the Lord our God is one Lord”; “the Lord our God, the Lord is one”; “the Lord is our God, the Lord is one.”

14 (A)You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the surrounding peoples— 15 for the Lord, your God who is in your midst, is a passionate God—lest the anger of the Lord, your God, flare up against you and he destroy you from upon the land.

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(A)If there is found in your midst, in any one of the communities which the Lord, your God, gives you, a man or a woman who does evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, and transgresses his covenant,(B) by going to serve other gods, by bowing down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, contrary to my command;(C) and if you are told or hear of it, you must investigate it thoroughly. If the truth of the matter is established that this abomination has been committed in Israel, you shall bring the man or the woman who has done this evil deed out to your gates[a] and stone the man or the woman to death. Only on the testimony of two or three witnesses shall a person be put to death;(D) no one shall be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. The hands of the witnesses shall be the first raised to put the person to death, and afterward the hands of all the people.(E) Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:5 Out to your gates: outside the gates, so as not to defile the city; cf. Lv 24:14; Nm 15:36; Acts 7:58; Hb 13:12.