Texts in Conversation
Tobit 14 echoes Deuteronomy 6:5 that calls Israel to love God with heart, soul, and strength. By repeating this language, Tobit uses Deuteronomy to shape its narrative and highlight its connection to Israel's core traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 6:5
Hebrew Bible
3 Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number—as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. 6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 7 and you must teach them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, as you lie down, and as you get up.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Tobit 14:7
Deuterocanon
6 And all the nations which are in the whole earth, all shall turn and fear God truly, and all shall leave their idols, who err after their false error. 7 And they shall bless the everlasting God in righteousness. All the children of Israel that are delivered in those days, remembering God in truth, shall be gathered together and come to Jerusalem and shall dwell for ever in the land of Abraham with security, and it shall be given over to them; and they that love God in truth shall rejoice, and they that do sin and unrighteousness shall cease from all the earth. 8 And now, children, I charge you, serve God in truth and do what is pleasing in his sight; and upon your children it shall be enjoined to do alms, and that they be mindful of God and bless his name at every season in truth and with all their strength.
Date: 225–175 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Notes and References
"... This sentence relates the fundamental theology of Deuteronomy and the shema: Love and obey God and he will bestow blessings; disobey and he will pour curses on you. Compare Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:12; 28:47–58; 33:18 ..."
Robert J. Littman, Tobit: The Book of Tobit in Codex Sinaiticus (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 149.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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