Come, Follow Me · Week 20 · May 11–17

Deuteronomy 6–8; 15; 18; 29–30; 34

This Week's Reading

This week's reading from Deuteronomy focuses on the foundational command to love God with all your heart, soul, and might, establishing a life centered on His covenant faithfulness. Moses reminds the Israelites that their survival depends not merely on physical sustenance but on every word proceeding from the mouth of the Lord. The text emphasizes the choice between life and death, urging the people to cleave unto God who is their very life. Ultimately, these chapters teach that true blessing comes from obeying His statutes while trusting in His mercy across generations.

Key Passages

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 declares the Shema, commanding us to love the Lord with our whole being and to teach these words diligently to our children in every aspect of daily life.
Deuteronomy 7:9–11 reveals that the Lord is a faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with those who love Him to a thousand generations while repaying those who hate Him.
Deuteronomy 8:3–5 teaches that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD, illustrating how divine chastening refines us like a father correcting his son.
Deuteronomy 29:29 wisely distinguishes between secret things belonging to the Lord and revealed things given to us and our children forever so we may do all the words of this law.
Deuteronomy 30:15–20 presents a clear choice between life and good or death and evil, calling us to choose life by loving the Lord, obeying His voice, and cleaving unto Him who is our life.

Questions to Ponder

How can I practically teach these sacred words to my own children in my home today?
In what ways does my daily routine reflect a heart that loves the Lord with all my might?
When do I need to remember that the Lord chastens me as a loving Father for my growth?
What specific actions can I take this week to choose life and cleave unto Him?

A Thought to Take Home

Choosing to love the Lord is the most important decision we make, for He is our life and the length of our days. As we study these scriptures, may we find comfort in His unchanging covenant faithfulness that extends to us and our children forever. Let this week's reading inspire you to bind these truths to your heart and walk daily in His ways with joy.

Further study

Deuteronomy 6:4–9 Deuteronomy 30:15–20

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This guide was prepared with AI from the scriptures and checked against the text; it can still make mistakes. For the Church's own guidance, read the official Come, Follow Me manual for this week. Nephite Atlas is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Key passages

Deuteronomy 6:4–9

⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: ⁷And 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. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

Deuteronomy 7:9–11

⁹Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; ¹⁰And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. ¹¹Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Deuteronomy 8:3–5

³And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. ⁴Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. ⁵Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.

Deuteronomy 29:29

²⁹The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Deuteronomy 30:15–20

¹⁵See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil; ¹⁶In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. ¹⁷But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them; ¹⁸I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: ²⁰That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.