Deuteronomy 6

1 These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,

“These are the commandments and rules and regulations that Yahweh our God commanded me to teach to you. He wants you to obey them in the land that you are about to enter and occupy.

2 so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.

He wants you to revere him, and he wants you and your descendants to always obey all these rules and regulations that I am giving to you, in order that you may live for a long time.

3 Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

So, you Israeli people, listen to them carefully and obey them. If you do that, things will go well with you, and you will become a nation with a very large population when you are living in that very fertile [IDM] land. That is what Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped], promised [would happen].

4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.

“You Israeli people, listen! Only Yahweh is our God.

5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

You must love him with all your inner being and with all that you feel and with all that you do.

6 These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

Never forget [IDM] these commands that I am giving to you today.

7 And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Teach them to your children again and again. Talk about them [all the time]: When you are in your houses and when you are walking outside; talk about them when you are lying down and when you are doing things.

8 Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

[Write them on tiny scrolls and] fasten them to your arms/wrists, and write them on bands that you fasten to your foreheads [to help you to remember them].

9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Write them on the doorposts and on the gates of your houses.

10 And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,

“Yahweh our God vowed to your ancestors Abraham and Isaac and Jacob that he will give you a land that already has in it large and prosperous cities that you did not build.

11 with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

He said that the houses in those cities will already be full of many good things that [others put there]; you did not put them there. There will be wells that others have dug. There will be vineyards and olive trees that others planted. So when Yahweh brings you into that land, and you have all that you want to eat,

12 be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

be sure that you do not forget Yahweh who rescued you from being slaves [in Egypt and gave all these things to you].

13 Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.

“You must revere Yahweh our God, and you must serve only him and say that he should [MTY] punish you if you do not do what you have promised.

14 Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you.

You must not worship any other gods, the gods that the people-groups who will live near you worship.

15 For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

Yahweh our God, who lives among you, (will not accept/will punish) people who worship anyone or anything else. So if you worship any other god, Yahweh will be very angry with you, and he will get rid of you completely.

16 Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.

Do not do sinful things to find out if you can do them without Yahweh our God punishing you, like your ancestors did at Massah.

17 You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you.

Be sure that you always obey all the laws, the commandments, the rules, and the regulations that he has given to you.

18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers,

Do what Yahweh says is right and good. If you do that, things will go well with you. You will be able to enter and occupy the good/fertile land that Yahweh vowed to give to our ancestors.

19 driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD has said.

He will do that by expelling your enemies from that land, just like he promised to do.

20 In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”

“In the future, when your children ask you, ‘Why did Yahweh our God command us to obey all these rules and regulations?’

21 then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

tell them, ‘Our ancestors were slaves of the king in Egypt, but Yahweh brought them out of Egypt by his great power [MTY].

22 Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.

They saw him do many kinds of miracles [DOU] and do terrifying things to the people of Egypt and to the king and his officials.

23 But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

He rescued our ancestors from Egypt and brought them here to give them this land, just like he vowed that he would do.

24 And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day.

And he commanded us to obey all these laws and to revere him, for our own good and in order that he would protect our nation and enable us to prosper, as he is doing now.

25 And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”

Yahweh our God will (approve of us/consider us to be righteous) if we carefully obey everything that he has commanded us to do.’”