Literally, “take heed exceedingly to your souls.” Perhaps the danger would be greater now, after the Israelites were settled at ease in the land, that their love for God might turn to something else. The scriptures in both the OT and NT emphasize the pre-eminence of love. Power may be pleasant, wisdom and beauty may be delightful, and riches may give a certain prestige and sense of security, but life is not in these. Love supersedes all. Obedience submits to the voice which cries, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). But love responds, “O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth” (Ps. 8:1). Obedience declines to take the name of the Lord in vain, whereas love exclaims, “The desire of our soul is to thy name” (Isa. 26:8). “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Obedience refuses to break the Sabbath, but love says, “Call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable” (Isa. 58:13). So it ought to be with all the divine commands. “Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Rom. 13:10).