What Does Deuteronomy 5:1 Mean?
And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, Hear and respond, O Israel, to the statutes and the judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may learn them, and guard them, and do them.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.THE KEY
Here, hearing is the first movement of a word that becomes guarded and lived.
THE MEANING
The “drawn-out” voice of Moses (מֹשֶׁה, Moshe, “drawn out of water”) reaches you now as a summons to hear, learn, guard, and do. The words move from your ears into the shape of your life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hearing Scripture is complete once the words reach your ears; here, hearing opens into learning, guarding, and doing.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed; in a summons to obey, hear and respond.
“Hear and respond” in this verse is shemaʿ. The word carries hearing toward response, rather than stopping at sound. The verse unfolds that response as learning, guarding, and doing.
ALSO GROWS
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This form presents hearing as a posture that receives what is said, echoing the verse’s call to take the words in.
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root can name what is heard and carried onward, matching the movement from hearing into learning and action.
וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם
ushmartem
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
Guard, watch over, preserve.
“guard” in this verse is ushmartem. “Keep” carries the image of watching over the instruction so it remains present in your life. Beside “do,” it shows that what is guarded is enacted.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: A guard, keeper, or watcher.
שֹׁמֵר
The verse’s keeping is active attention: the words are watched over, not merely stored away.
mishmeret: A charge, watch, or guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes keeping a responsibility of care, illuminating how the instruction is held and then practiced.
THE PATTERN
A word is fully received as hearing carries into keeping and action.
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.But he said, Rather, flourishing are those who hear and respond to the word of God and guard it.But be makers of the word, and not hearers only, miscounting yourselves.THE THREAD
Hear and respond, O Israel. The LORD our God is one LORD.“Hear” is the same Hebrew summons, שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, hear and respond). Deuteronomy 5:1 opens that call further by naming its movement: learn the words, guard them, and do them.
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