In 1992, Timo Veijola argued that the love commandment in Deut 6:5 was an interpolation into the Shema. On the basis of its vocabulary, he showed it to be consistent with a late Deuteronomistic stratum in Deuteronomy, which he labeled the Bundestheologische Redaktion (DtrB). In this essay I argue that Veijola’s argument about the integrity of Deut 6:4–5 was based on a misunderstanding of Joüon’s Hebrew grammar. Veijola’s central insight, however, about the date of Deut 6:5 was sound and can be correlated with further evidence from the vocabulary and reception history of Deut 6:4. Thus, the widely held assumption that Deut 6:4 stood at the head of a Josianic book of Deuteronomy and was the slogan of the Josianic reformation is shown to rest upon precarious foundations.