Deuteronomy study section
Deuteronomy word studies
A handful of Hebrew words carry the theology of Deuteronomy. Tap the speaker next to any word to hear it pronounced.
Key words
שְׁמַע (shema) — “Hear”
Usage: Deuteronomy 5:1; 6:4; 9:1; and throughout
Meaning: To hear, listen, and obey; the summons is not merely to perceive sound but to heed and respond. The word opens the great confession of 6:4, which is named the Shema after it.
Theological Significance: In Deuteronomy, hearing is the beginning of faith and obedience; to truly hear God’s word is to do it. The Shema calls Israel to attentive, obedient listening to the one true God. Jesus repeatedly says “he who has ears, let him hear,” and the Father commands at the Transfiguration, “listen to him” (Matthew 17:5), for faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
אָהַב (ahav) — “To Love”
Usage: Deuteronomy 6:5; 7:9; 10:12; 11:1; 30:6
Meaning: To love; in Deuteronomy, covenant love — a devoted, loyal, whole-hearted commitment to God that engages the affections and expresses itself in obedience.
Theological Significance: Love is the central demand of Deuteronomy: “you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart.” This love is Israel’s response to God’s prior, electing love (7:7-8), and it is the essence of the covenant, not cold duty but warm devotion. Jesus names it the greatest commandment (Mark 12:30), and the New Testament roots all such love in God’s love for us in Christ (1 John 4:19).
דְּבָרִים (devarim) — “Words”
Usage: Deuteronomy 1:1; 4:13; 6:6; 28:58
Meaning: Words, matters, or things; the Hebrew title of the book, Devarim, comes from its opening, “These are the words that Moses spoke.”
Theological Significance: Deuteronomy is supremely a book of God’s words, to be laid on the heart, taught, obeyed, and treasured as life itself (32:47). Its reverence for the word anticipates the whole biblical emphasis on Scripture, and it reaches its climax in the Word made flesh (John 1:14), through whom God has spoken finally and fully (Hebrews 1:1-2).
חֶסֶד (chesed) — “Steadfast Love”
Usage: Deuteronomy 5:10; 7:9, 12
Meaning: Steadfast love, covenant loyalty, faithful kindness; the loyal, committed love that keeps its promises and does not fail. It describes God’s faithfulness to a thousand generations.
Theological Significance: God is “the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him” (7:9). His chesed is the bedrock of the covenant, the assurance that His commitment to His people will never fail. This faithful love is supremely displayed at the cross and celebrated throughout the Psalms as enduring forever, the ground of all hope.
סְגֻלָּה (segullah) — “Treasured Possession”
Usage: Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18
Meaning: A treasured possession, a personal treasure, valued property specially prized by its owner; used of Israel as God’s own cherished people.
Theological Significance: That God calls Israel His segullah reveals the astonishing intimacy of the covenant: out of all peoples, He has taken them as His personal treasure, not for their merit but because He loves them. This identity is applied to the church, “a people for his own possession” (1 Peter 2:9; Titus 2:14), purchased and prized by God in Christ.
זָכַר (zakhar) — “To Remember”
Usage: Deuteronomy 5:15; 8:2, 18; 9:7; 24:18
Meaning: To remember, call to mind, keep in memory; and by extension to act on that memory. Deuteronomy repeatedly commands Israel to remember God’s deeds and their own past.
Theological Significance: Memory is the guardian of faith in Deuteronomy: Israel is to remember its slavery and redemption, God’s provision in the wilderness, and His mighty acts, so as not to forget Him in prosperity. Forgetting leads to apostasy; remembering sustains gratitude and obedience. The Lord’s Supper carries this forward — “do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19) — as the church’s guard against forgetting its redemption.
נָבִיא (navi) — “Prophet”
Usage: Deuteronomy 13:1; 18:15, 18, 20; 34:10
Meaning: A prophet, a spokesman for God who speaks His words to the people. Deuteronomy both warns against false prophets and promises a true prophet like Moses.
Theological Significance: God provides for His people to know His will not through the occult but through the prophets He raises up (18:15-22). The promised “prophet like Moses” points beyond the line of prophets to Christ, the ultimate Prophet in whom God speaks His final word (Acts 3:22-23; Hebrews 1:1-2), and to whom the Father commands us to listen.
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