“Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.”
My Notes
What Does Deuteronomy 6:3 Mean?
"Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee." Moses connects hearing to doing to wellbeing: hear, observe, do — and things will go well. The sequence isn't optional. Hearing without doing produces nothing. Doing without hearing produces the wrong thing. Both hearing and doing, in order, produce the wellbeing God promises.
The phrase "that it may be well with thee" (yitav lakh — that it may be good for you) makes obedience practical: following God's instructions produces your own good. The command isn't for God's benefit. It's for yours. God doesn't need your obedience. You need the wellbeing your obedience produces.
The additional promise — "that ye may increase mightily" — connects obedience to multiplication: not just personal wellbeing but generational flourishing. The land flowing with milk and honey produces abundance, but only for the obedient. The land's productivity responds to the people's fidelity.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What has God said to you that you've heard but not done?
- 2.How does obeying for your own benefit (not just God's glory) change your motivation?
- 3.What would 'hear and do' — without the gap of debate or delay — produce in your life?
- 4.What 'increase mightily' could your obedience produce for the next generation?
Devotional
Hear. Do. And it will go well with you. The simplest life formula in Deuteronomy: listen to what God says, put it into practice, and the result is wellbeing. Not complexity. Not a mystery. Hear and do and prosper.
The sequence matters: hear THEN do. The hearing precedes the doing because the doing depends on the content of the hearing. You can't do right if you haven't heard right. The hearing provides the blueprint. The doing executes it. The wellbeing is the result of both.
The 'well with thee' motivation is shockingly practical: God commands obedience for YOUR benefit, not His. The instructions aren't arbitrary divine preferences imposed on reluctant humans. They're design specifications from the Designer: follow these and the machine works. Ignore them and it breaks. The wellbeing isn't a reward added to obedience. It's the natural product of living according to design.
The 'increase mightily' adds generational scope: your obedience produces multiplication for your descendants. The hear-and-do pattern doesn't just produce personal wellbeing. It produces family flourishing. The land of milk and honey responds to obedient occupants with abundant productivity.
What would happen if you simply heard what God said and did it? Not heard and debated. Not heard and evaluated. Not heard and filed for later. Heard and did. The formula's simplicity is its power. The wellbeing follows the doing. The doing follows the hearing. Start hearing.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it,.... Or them, the commandments given them:
that it may be well with…
In the land - Better: According as the Lord the God of thy fathers promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.
Observe here, 1. That Moses taught the people all that, and that only, which God commanded him to teach them, Deu 6:1.…
observe to do See on Deu 5:1.
that ye may increase mightily A partial return to the Pl., and, with such a verb, logical…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture