Exhortation Station

You might be scratching your head at the title of this post. Let me explain…

A while back, I stumbled across something interesting while reading the Shema.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9
“Hear, O Israel! YHWH is our God, YHWH is one! ⁵ You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk 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. ⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

I was curious to know what Hebrew wording was behind the phrase, “all your might,” so I looked it up and found something I wasn’t expecting. The phrase in Hebrew is “kol meodecha,” where “kol” means “all” and the suffix “-echa” forms the possessive, “your might.” What is interesting is the word translated “might” – “meod” in Hebrew (Strong’s #H3966). This is not the word typically used for might/strength/power in the Bible. Instead, “meod” is an emphasis word, often translated as “very.” It is part of the common Hebrew phrase, “tov meod” – “very good.”

The NAS Exhaustive Concordance defines “meod” as meaning something like “muchness, force, abundance.” It is translated as a handful of different things in the NASB, including “very” (139 times), “greatly” (52 times), “great” (16 times), “exceedingly” (14 times), and “diligently” (3 times). Below are a few examples:

Genesis 17:6 – “I [YHWH] will make you [Abraham] exceedingly (meod) fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you.”

Deuteronomy 4:9 – “Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently (meod), so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.”

Joshua 1:7 – “Only be strong and very (meod) courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.”

Psalm 109:30 – “With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly (meod) to YHWH; And in the midst of many I will praise Him.”

Psalm 119:96 – “I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly (meod) broad.”

I’m not a Hebrew scholar, but I wonder if perhaps a better translation of Deuteronomy 6:5 is something like, “You shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your muchness/abundance/emphasis.” I think that is cool!

If you have any additional insights/thoughts on this verse, feel free to share in the comments below.

Let us serve Yahweh with all the exceeding abundance of our being — with all our VERY!

(All Bible passages NASB 1995; Hebrew transl. added.)