Explainer / Tanakh
Deuteronomy 6:4
Hear, O Israel: Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one:
שְׁמַ**ע** יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ יְהוָה אֶחָ**ד**
Compare with the ASV
Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah:
We rendered the verse with the same wording as Mark 12:29 in this version: "Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one," where the ASV has "Yehovah our God is one Yehovah."
Why
No verb
After "Hear, O Israel," the Hebrew is four words: "Yehovah our God Yehovah one." Any English verb is supplied.
More
"Yehovah our God, Yehovah is one" (this version), "Yehovah our God is one Yehovah" (ASV) and "Yehovah is our God, Yehovah alone" (NJPS) all supply it in different places.
The same confession in Mark
Yeshua quotes the verse as the first commandment (Mark 12:29): κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν κύριος εἷς ἐστιν.
More
This version renders both places alike so they read as the same words.
אֶחָד
is the ordinary numeral "one." It is used of a single thing (Gen 2:21, one rib) and of things joined as one (Gen 2:24, "one flesh"; Num 13:23, one cluster).
A scribal detail
Two letters are written large in Torah scrolls: the ע of שְׁמַע and the ד of אֶחָד.
More
Together they spell עֵד, "witness."