If you are like me when I hear the word shema I immediately think it refers to Deuteronomy 6:4-5: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” That verse starts off in Hebrew: “Shema O Israel.”

The Hebrew word Shema literally means “to hear,” but in the Bible it carries a far deeper sense: to listen, to pay attention, and to obey. In Hebrew thought, true hearing is never passive. When God says Shema, He calls for response, for action that flows from attentive listening.

The most famous use of the word does comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5. This prayer is the heartbeat of Jewish faith, recited daily for millennia. But shema appears all throughout Scripture, reminding God’s people that listening to His voice is the essence of covenant life.

In our world of constant noise, the call to shema is revolutionary. It’s more than hearing with the ears; it is tuning the whole self, heart, mind, and body, toward God. To shema is to let His words shape your choices, your relationships, your entire life.

When Israel failed, the prophets often cried out that the people had “ears but did not hear.” The tragedy wasn’t deafness, but disobedience. True hearing means living differently because you have received God’s word.
 
The Hebrew Bible never separates listening from doing. In fact, there is no distinct word for “obey” in biblical Hebrew. Instead, the word (shema) carries both senses at once: to hear is to obey. That’s why the Shema prayer doesn’t stop at “Hear, O Israel,” but flows directly into the command to love God fully.

Even Jesus quotes the Shema as the greatest commandment in (Mark 12:29–30), showing its enduring power for both Jews and Christians.

What About You?
 
When was the last time you truly heard, not just with your ears, but with your whole being? Maybe it was in prayer, when God’s word cut through your distractions. Maybe it was in the cry of someone who needed you.

To live out Shema is to ask daily: Am I only hearing… or am I listening with a readiness to respond?