Deuteronomy 6:4 to Deuteronomy 11:32. General precepts resting upon the doctrine that Yahweh is the only true God.
Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Called by Jews the Shema from the first wordHear. The Shema, with other words from Scripture, is written on the parchment in the two phylacteries and in the door mezuzah, but that Deuteronomy 6:8 f. had no reference to such practices is evident from the context and from Exodus 13:9-16; Proverbs 1:9; Proverbs 3:3; Proverbs 6:21 where the figurative sense is alone possible. Phylacteries as the name implies, and also the mezuzah, were originally counter-charms among the Jews, as similar articles were among the Egyptians and other peoples. They are never referred to in the OT or in the Apocrypha, but they are mentioned by Josephus (Ant. iv. 1, viii. 13), as phylacteries are in the NT (Matthew 23:5 *, etc.).