Devarim 6:8

8 And thou shalt bind them for an ot upon thine hand, and they shall be as totafos (ornaments [Shemot 13:16, Shabbos 57a]) between thine eyes.

Devarim 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 6:8

And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand
As a man ties anything to his hand for a token, that he may remember somewhat he is desirous of; though the Jews understand this literally, of binding a scroll of parchment, with this section and others written in it, upon their left hand, as the Targum of Jonathan here interprets the hand:

and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes;
and which the same Targum interprets of the Tephilim, or phylacteries, which the Jews wear upon their foreheads, and on their arms, and so Jarchi; of which (See Gill on Matthew 23:5).

Devarim 6:8 In-Context

6 And these devarim, which I command thee today, shall be in thine lev;
7 And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy banim, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine bais, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 And thou shalt bind them for an ot upon thine hand, and they shall be as totafos (ornaments [Shemot 13:16, Shabbos 57a]) between thine eyes.
9 And thou shalt write them upon the mezuzot of thy bais, and on thy she’arim.
10 And it shall be, when Hashem Eloheicha shall have brought thee into ha’aretz He swore unto Avoteicha, to Avraham, to Yitzchak, and to Ya’akov, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.