The SHEMA
What is the Shema?
The Shema is a central prayer in Judaism, affirming the oneness and Kingship of God. It is recited daily in morning and evening prayer services and is considered by some as the most essential prayer in Jewish faith and would have been prayed every single day by Jesus and His disciples.
The first verse, “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One,” is recited aloud, affirming the monotheistic belief in God’s singularity. This is followed by a line traditionally recited in an undertone, “Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever,” which praises the eternal nature of God’s kingdom.
The remaining sections of the Shema prayer, taken from three biblical sources (Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41), outline the importance of loving and serving God with all one’s heart, soul, and might. It emphasises the duty to teach these commandments to future generations and to incorporate them into daily life, from waking to sleeping.
The consequences of following or neglecting God’s commandments are also mentioned, with blessings promised for obedience and warnings of punishment for disobedience.
While the Shema is deeply rooted in Jewish tradition, its message of devotion to God and ethical living extends beyond Judaism. Gentiles are invited to pray it in the sense that the principles it espouses—such as love for God, ethical behaviour, and passing down moral teachings—are universal and applicable to all people, regardless of religious affiliation. Gentiles can incorporate the values and teachings of the Shema into their own spiritual practices and ethical frameworks, recognizing the importance of monotheism, love for God, and ethical living.
The Shema Prayer
Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One
Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Take to heart these instructions, which I will charge you with today. Impress them upon your children. Recite them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead; inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
If, then, you obey the commandments that I enjoin upon you this day, loving the LORD your God and serving Him with all your heart and soul, I will grant the rain for your land in season, the early rain and the late. You shall gather in your new grain and wine and oil— I will also provide grass in the fields for your cattle—and thus you shall eat your fill. Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods and bow to them. For the LORD’s anger will flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is assigning to you. Therefore impress these My words upon your very heart: bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, and teach them to your children—reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up; and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates— to the end that you and your children may endure, in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to assign to them, as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
The LORD said to Moses as follows: Speak to the Israelite people and instruct them to make for themselves fringes on the corners of their garments throughout the ages; let them attach a cord of blue to the fringe at each corner. That shall be your fringe; look at it and recall all the commandments of the LORD and observe them, so that you do not follow your heart and eyes in your lustful urge. Thus you shall be reminded to observe all My commandments and to be holy to your God. I the LORD am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, the LORD your God.