Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

DEUTERONOMY 11:18KJV
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Deuteronomy 11:18 (KJV)

What does Deuteronomy 11:18 mean?

Deuteronomy 11:18 tells the people to keep God’s words deeply in their hearts and souls, and to make them a visible and constant reminder by binding them on their hands and placing them as symbols between their eyes. The verse stresses making God’s instructions a central and ever-present part of daily life.

Moses is speaking to the Israelites as they prepare to enter the promised land, urging them to remember and internalize God’s teachings. The language about binding the words on hands and between eyes uses physical imagery to emphasize the importance of keeping these teachings close, both inwardly (in heart and soul) and outwardly (in daily actions and thoughts).

The Hebrew behind Deuteronomy 11:18

  • "Lay up" (שִׂימוּ, simú): This word means to set, place, or put. Here, it carries the sense of intentionally storing or treasuring God’s words within oneself, not just hearing them but making them part of one’s inner life.
  • "Heart" (לֵבָב, levav) and "soul" (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh): These words together highlight the call to embrace God’s words with both emotion and will ("heart") and with one’s whole being or life force ("soul"), showing this is about total commitment.
  • "Bind" (קָשַׁר, qashar): This means to tie or fasten. The verse uses it to describe making God’s words a visible sign, suggesting a deliberate, ongoing action to keep the teachings present in everyday life.
  • "Frontlets" (טוֹטָפֹת, totafot): This refers to bands or ornaments worn on the forehead. In later Jewish tradition, this became the practice of wearing tefillin—small boxes containing scripture—on the arm and head during prayer.

Why Deuteronomy 11:18 matters

  • Deuteronomy 11:18 clarifies that God’s instructions are meant to shape both inward attitudes and outward actions, not just be memorized or recited.
  • The verse connects to the larger passage, which repeatedly urges Israel to remember, teach, and live out God’s words as they settle in the land, showing this is a key theme for their identity and future.
  • The physical imagery of binding and frontlets helps explain later Jewish practices and highlights how seriously the people were to take the command to remember and obey God’s words.

Where else these words appear

“frontlets” Hebrew H2903 · used in 3 verses

  • Exodus 13:16 And it shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt.
  • Deuteronomy 6:8 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

“bind” Hebrew H7194 · used in 44 verses

  • Genesis 30:41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.
  • 1 Kings 16:20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?
  • 2 Chronicles 25:27 Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

“sign” Hebrew H226 · used in 77 verses

  • Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
  • Numbers 17:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron's rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.
  • Psalms 65:8 They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.