Old Testament track · step 6 of 6 · matching NT step →
Old Testament · Step 6
Love, trial and devotion
The Gita’s last word is love: devotion (bhakti) and action without attachment to its fruit. The Hebrew Bible’s great commandment is also love, “with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might”. Around it stand the Psalms of longing, the Song of Songs, which the rabbis called the holy of holies, and Job, who loses everything and still will not let God go. This page sets them beside Krishna’s teaching and Ramakrishna’s bhakti.
1. Love with all your heart (Deuteronomy 6:5)
Deuteronomy 6:5
| KJVpublic domain | “And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “and thou hast loved Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might,” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” | source |
“Place your mind on me only; fix your understanding on me. In me you will dwell hereafter, (there is) no doubt.”— Gita 12.8, tr. K. T. Telang (1882) · source
Deuteronomy 6:5 follows the Shema directly (OT Step 3): first the One, then the love. The Gita makes the same move from knowledge to devotion in chapter 12. Love of the One with the whole self, heart, soul and strength, is the place where Hebrew piety and Indian bhakti are closest. Jesus calls this “the first commandment” (Mark 12:29–30, see the Bridge).
2. As the deer pants (Psalm 42:1–2)
Psalm 42:1-2
| KJVpublic domain | “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “As a hart doth pant for streams of water, So my soul panteth toward Thee, O God. My soul thirsted for God, for the living God, When do I enter and see the face of God?” | source |
“Cry to the Lord with an intensely yearning heart and you will certainly see Him.”— Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel, ch. 1 · source
Thirst for God, tears day and night, the question “when shall I come and appear before God?”: Psalm 42 is the language Ramakrishna valued most, vyākulatā, intense yearning. For him the yearning is itself the way. The psalm ends not in vision but in hope: “hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him” (42:11).
3. The Song of Songs (2:16 · 8:6)
Song of Solomon 2:16
| KJVpublic domain | “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “My beloved [is] mine, and I [am] his, Who is delighting among the lilies,” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies.” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies.” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “My beloved is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies.” | source |
ESV footnote: “Or he pastures his flock”.
Song of Solomon 8:6
| KJVpublic domain | “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “Set me as a seal on thy heart, as a seal on thine arm, For strong as death is love, Sharp as Sheol is jealousy, Its burnings [are] burnings of fire, a flame of Jah!” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame.” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD.” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame.” | source |
Footnotes: ESV “Or ardor” and “Hebrew as Sheol”; NIV “Or fire, like the very flame of the LORD” (Hebrew shalhevetyah).
Jewish interpretive tradition
“For the whole world is not as worthy as the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel; for all the writings are holy but the Song of Songs is the holy of holies.”— Rabbi Akiva in Mishnah Yadayim 3:5, tr. Joshua Kulp, Sefaria · source
Jewish tradition read the Song as “an allegory for the love between God and Israel”, a view “dominant for a thousand years and more”; Christians read it of Christ and the Church or the soul. Modern scholarship usually reads it as love poetry (Wikipedia, “Song of Songs”).
“Did you observe the single-minded love of the gopis for Krishna? The ideal of Vrindavan is unique.”— Sri Ramakrishna, Gospel, ch. 10 · source
The love-poetry of the Song and the songs of the gopīs, the cowherd women who love Krishna, are the two great bodies of scripture that use human love as the language of the soul’s longing for God. Both were read that way by later tradition more than by their first audiences. Both keep the lover and the Beloved distinct: “My beloved is mine, and I am his”. This is mādhurya bhāva, the “sweet” mood of bhakti.
4. Job: love without reward (Job 1:9, 21 · 13:15 · 42:5)
Job 1:9
| KJVpublic domain | “Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “And the Adversary answereth Jehovah and saith, `For nought is Job fearing God?” | source |
Job 1:21
| KJVpublic domain | “And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “and he saith, `Naked came I forth from the womb of my mother, and naked I turn back thither: Jehovah hath given and Jehovah hath taken: let the name of Jehovah be blessed.'” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”” | source |
NIV footnote on “depart”: “Or will return there”.
“Your business is with action alone; not by any means with fruit. Let not the fruit of action be your motive (to action). Let not your attachment be (fixed) on inaction.”— Gita 2.47, tr. K. T. Telang (1882) · source
Job 13:15
| KJVpublic domain | “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “Lo, He doth slay me -- I wait not! Only, my ways unto His face I argue.” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.” | source |
The translations split because the Hebrew has two readings: written lo “not” (“I have no hope”, NRSVue), and read aloud lo “in him” (“yet will I trust in him”, KJV). Each version footnotes the other.
Job 42:5
| KJVpublic domain | “I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “By the hearing of the ear I heard Thee, And now mine eye hath seen Thee.” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” | source |
Scholarly note
Job “addresses the problem of evil, providing a theodicy through the experiences of the eponymous protagonist” (Wikipedia, “Book of Job”). It refuses the simple answer that suffering is punishment for sin. God’s speeches from the whirlwind (chs. 38–41) give no explanation, but a vision of creation.
The Satan’s question, “Doth Job fear God for nought?”, is the Gita’s question too: can one serve without the fruit? Krishna answers that one should, and Job is the Hebrew Bible’s test case. His final words, “now mine eye seeth thee”, move from hearsay to seeing, which Indian traditions call darśan. Job does not become calm by detachment, though; he argues with God to the end. Both are honest ways of loving.
5. Love your neighbour (Leviticus 19:18)
Leviticus 19:18
| KJVpublic domain | “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” | source |
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| Young's Literalpublic domain | “`Thou dost not take vengeance, nor watch the sons of thy people; and thou hast had love to thy neighbour as thyself; I [am] Jehovah.” | source |
| NRSV (NRSVue)© publisher · short quote | “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” | source |
| ESV© publisher · short quote | “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” | source |
| NIV© publisher · short quote | ““‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.” | source |
Rabbi Akiva called this verse “a great principle of the Torah” (Sifra on Leviticus 19:18; described, not quoted from a checked translation). The Gita’s sages are “intent on the welfare of all beings” (5.25, tr. Telang, source). Yogic ethics begins in the same place: ahiṃsā, non-harm (Yoga Sutra II.30).
New Testament track: Step 6 · Love and service (Gita).
Eastern perspective · Upanishads · Gita
Love of God and neighbour in the Upanishads
“Lo, verily, not for love of the husband is a husband dear, but for love of the Soul (Ātman) a husband is dear. Lo, verily, not for love of the wife is a wife dear, but for love of the Soul a wife is dear.”— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.4.5, tr. R. E. Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (1921) · source
“To him who has the highest devotion (bhakti) for God, And for his spiritual teacher (guru) even as for God, To him these matters which have been declared Become manifest [if he be] a great soul (mahātman)”— Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.23, tr. R. E. Hume, The Thirteen Principal Upanishads (1921) · source
“He sees (truly) who sees the supreme lord abiding alike in all entities, and not destroyed though they are destroyed. For he who sees the lord abiding everywhere alike, does not destroy himself by himself, and then reaches the highest goal.”— Gita 13.27, tr. K. T. Telang (1882) · source
“Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Lev 19:18) and “not for love of the wife is a wife dear, but for love of the Soul” approach the same mystery from two sides. Leviticus commands love; the Upanishad explains why love is possible at all. The Gita adds that whoever sees the Lord in all “does not destroy himself by himself”: harming the other is harming the Self.
Where the traditions differ
Leviticus grounds love in covenant (“I am the LORD”); the Upanishad grounds it in identity. Jewish ethics does not need, and generally does not accept, the claim that neighbour and self are one Self.
Light thread
“But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.”— Malachi 4:2, KJV · source
“The Sun of righteousness … with healing in his wings” closes the Hebrew prophets with light. In Christian order it leads straight to the Gospels; in this site it leads across the bridge.