Sources as early as the Dead Sea Scrolls testify to the twice-daily recitation of the Shema, the proclamation of Jewish faith. The first paragraph, Deut. 6-4-9, emphasizes the unity and sovereignty of God. The second paragraph, 11-13-21, emphasizes the obligation to observe his commandments, and the third, Num. 15-37-41, to remember the experience of slavery in Egypt.

HEAR, O ISRAEL, THE LORD OUR GOD, THE LORD IS ONE. 24

BLESSED BE THE NAME OF HIS GLORIOUS KINGDOM FOR EVER AND EVER. 25

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your hearts; and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and upon your gates.

And it shall come to pass, 26 if you will diligently obey my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, and your wine, and your oil. And I will give grass in your field for your cattle, and you shall eat and be satisfied. Beware, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them; and the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and the land yield not her fruit; and you perish quickly from off the good land which the Lord gives you. Therefore you shall lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul; and you shall bind them for a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house, and upon your gates, that your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, upon the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as the days of the heavens above the earth.

And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, 27 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them make for themselves fringes upon the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put upon the fringe of each corner a cord of blue, and it shall be a fringe unto you, that you may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them; that you go not astray after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to go astray; that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am the Lord your God.

23. Trans. Heinemann and Petuchowski, Literature of the Synagogue, pp. 24–25.

24. Here starts the first paragraph of the Shema (Deut. 6-4-9) dealing with God’s unity and kingship over the universe.

25. This line derives from the Temple rituals and is recited silently. It serves to highlight the main motif of the Shema—God’s kingship over the universe.

26. Here begins the second paragraph of the Shema (Deut. 11-13-21) in which God’s commandments and the concept of reward and punishment are discussed.

27. Here starts the third paragraph of the Shema (Num. 15-37-41) in which the obligation to remember the commandments and the Exodus from Egypt is emphasized.