Deut. 6:4 and Echad

Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. (Deut 6:4 NRSV)
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord Alone. (Deut 6:4 NJPS)

The above passage, often called the Shema (Heb. Listen), is usually second in line or at least very early amongst the dearth of Trinitarian arguments allegedly found in the Old Testament.

Echad means “alone”.1 God has no partner or consort as in the mythology of neighboring cultures.2 Spiros Zodhiates says, "To the Jew, this is the most important text in the Old Testament. Jesus Himself called the injunction in 6:5 “the first and great commandment” (Matt. 22:36-38; see the note on Ex. 20:1-17). The Jews refer to Deuteronomy 6:4 as the “Shema,” naming it after the first word in the text. In this instance the word means to heed, or listen and obey. Moses is teaching not only the priority of belief in one God, but also a means to preserve that belief."3

One option is to translate 6:4: “The LORD is our God, the LORD alone” (cf. TEV, NAB, NRSV, NLT).4

I know alot of us have looked echad over like a precious diamond but was wanting to explore this area further. Feel like sharing what you have learned about this text and echad?

NOTES:

1.(HALOT, The Hebrew & Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, © 1994-2000 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. All rights reserved)
2. Fox, E. (1995). Vol. 1: The five books of Moses : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ; a new translation with introductions, commentary, and notes. The Schocken Bible (Ge 1:1). New York: Schocken Books.
3. Zodhiates, S., & Baker, W. (2000, c1991, c1994). The complete word study Bible : King James Version. This electronic resource is a compilation of the The Complete Word Study Old Testament, edited by Warren Baker, and The Complete Word Study New Testament, edited by Spiros Zodhiates.; Words in the text numerically coded to Strong's Greek and Hebrew dictionary, introduction to each book, exegetical notes, grammatical codes on the text, lexical aids. (electronic ed.). Chattanooga: AMG Publishers.
4. Biblical Studies Press. (2006; 2006). The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press.