Verse explainer

What does Deuteronomy 6:7 really mean?

The word behind 'teach diligently' means to sharpen — this verse calls for constant, woven-in formation, not a single lesson.

KJV

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

BSB

And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The plain meaning

This verse sits at the heart of the Shema passage (vv. 4–9), the declaration that the LORD is one and is to be loved with everything a person has (v. 5). Verse 6 says these commands must first be on the parent's own heart — then v. 7 turns to transmission. The Hebrew verb translated 'teach diligently' literally means to whet or sharpen, as one sharpens a blade by repeated strokes. The picture is not a scheduled class but a running conversation worked into every seam of the day: sitting at home, walking a road, lying down, getting up. That fourfold rhythm covers the whole arc of daily life, suggesting no moment is too ordinary to carry the weight of formation. The commands being passed on are the ones just named — love of God, undivided loyalty, wholehearted devotion. The goal is not mere information transfer but a sharpened, ready familiarity with what it means to live before God.

The common misreading

This verse commands formal religious schooling or daily devotional lessons. Many readers picture a structured curriculum — a Bible lesson at a set hour — when they hear 'teach them diligently.' But the Hebrew verb shinnantam means to sharpen by repeated strokes, not to deliver a lecture. And the settings the verse names are conspicuously informal: the dinner table, a walk down a road, the few minutes before sleep, the moment of waking. There is no sanctuary, no scroll, no formal teacher in the scene. The command is for truth to be woven into the texture of daily life so thoroughly that it surfaces naturally in conversation at any hour. That is quite different from outsourcing formation to an institution or a once-a-week lesson. Verse 6 makes the sequence clear: the words must first be on the parent's own heart before they can be passed on this way. The misreading puts the weight on method; the text puts it on saturation and love.

What the commentators say

John Gill18th c. · PD

Gill dwells on the underlying Hebrew verb — to whet or sharpen — as a picture of diligent, repeated inculcation. He argues the point is not a single act of instruction but the constant impressing of divine things on children's minds through every occasion the day provides, from meals and leisure to travel and the rhythms of rising and lying down.

Matthew Henryearly 18th c. · PD

Henry reads the fourfold pattern of sitting, walking, lying down, and rising as a deliberate sweep of all of life's hours. He stresses that parents must themselves be steeped in these truths before they can pass them on — the command flows directly from 'these words shall be in thine heart' (v. 6). Religion, he notes, is meant to be the constant companion of ordinary life, not confined to formal worship.

Adam ClarkeClarke's Commentary · PD

Clarke emphasizes the domestic and informal character of the instruction commanded here. The settings named — house, road, bedtime, morning — are the natural gathering points of family life, and Clarke sees the verse as requiring that knowledge of God be built into the ordinary fabric of household routine rather than delegated to priests or reserved for sanctuary occasions.

The word behind it

שִׁנַּנְתָּם shinnantam

From the root שָׁנַן (shanan), meaning to sharpen or whet. Used here in the Piel (intensive) stem, it means to incise deeply or repeat with penetrating force. Gesenius connects it to sharpening a blade by repeated strokes. The word reframes 'teach diligently' from a mild suggestion into a vivid image: truth is to be worked into children's minds the way a whetstone works on iron — by steady, returning effort until an edge forms.

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