Pray the Word with David Platt is a resource from Radical.net.

Jeremiah chapter 7, verse 23,

but this command I gave them, obey my voice,

and I will be your God, and you shall be my people,

and walk in all the way that I command you that it may be well with you.

This is maybe one of the most important verses in the entire book of Jeremiah and one of the

most important words in the entire Bible. So verse 23 says, this command I gave them. And the contrast, just to get the

context and the verses right before this, God is talking to his people about how they worship him.

They bring offerings before him, sacrifices, they do all these things. But he says, this is the

command I gave you. Obey my voice.

This word obey.

It's such a beautiful word in the Old Testament, Shama.

It means to both hear and obey.

So when you look back at one of the most thematically significant verses in all of the Old

Testament, Deuteronomy chapter 6, hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

That word here is the same word that's translated here, obey.

And so it's this word that implies both, hearing and obeying.

And this is the command God has given his people. Here, listen to me, and obey what I say,

obey my voice, which necessitates hearing his voice. God says, I will be your God. You shall be my

people. Walk in all the way that I command you.

That it may be well with you.

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