< Deuteronomy 6 >
1 These are the commandments and rules and regulations that the Lord your God has ordered me to teach you to follow in the country that you're going to enter and occupy.
Now these [are] the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do [them] in the land whither ye go to possess it:
2 This is so you and your children and grandchildren will show respect to the Lord your God throughout your lives by keeping all his rules and regulations that I give you, and so that you may have a long life.
That thou mayst fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life: and that thy days may be prolonged.
3 Listen, people of Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may do well and have many descendants in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your forefathers, promised you.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do [it]; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.
4 Listen, people of Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is the only one.
Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God [is] one LORD:
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your being and with all your strength.
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6 The commands I'm giving you today must stay in your minds.
And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:
7 You are to explain them carefully to your children and talk about them when you're at home and when you're traveling, when you lie down and when you get up.
And thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
8 Tie them on your hands as reminders and put them on your foreheads as well.
And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thy eyes.
9 Write them on the doorposts of your homes and on your gates.
And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
10 The Lord your God is going to take you into the country he promised to give you and your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's a country with large, prosperous towns that you didn't build,
And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swore to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,
11 with houses full of plenty of good things that you didn't provide, that have wells you didn't dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. When you eat and are full
And houses full of all good [things], which thou didst not fill, and wells digged, which thou didst not dig, vineyards and olive-trees, which thou didst not plant; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;
12 make sure you don't forget the Lord who led you out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery.
[Then] beware lest thou shouldst forget the LORD, who brought thee forth from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
13 Respect the Lord your God only worship him, and only make promises in his name.
Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
14 Don't worship any other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,
Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which [are] around you;
15 because the Lord your God, who lives among you, is an exclusive God, and Lord your God will become angry with you, and he will wipe you out.
(For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God should be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.
16 Don't test the Lord your God like you did at Massah.
Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted [him] in Massah.
17 You must be careful to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and the laws and rules he's given you.
Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.
18 Do what's good and right in the Lord's sight so that it will go well for you and that you may enter and take over the good land that the Lord your God promised to give your forefathers,
And thou shalt do [that which is] right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to thy fathers,
19 He will drive out all your enemies ahead of you, just as he said.
To cast out all thy enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.
20 In the future, when your children come and ask you, “What's the point of decrees and rules and regulations that the Lord our God ordered you to follow?”
[And] when thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What [mean] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?
21 then you are to tell them, “Once we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord by his power led us out of Egypt.
Then thou shalt say to thy son, We were Pharoah's bond-men in Egypt: and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:
22 Before our very eyes the Lord brought down incredible and terrifying signs and miracles on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his people.
And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and distressing, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:
23 But he led us out of there to take us here, giving us this country that he had promised to our forefathers.
And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.
24 The Lord ordered us to keep all these laws and to respect the Lord our God, so that we would always be safe and well, as we are today
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as [it is] at this day.
25 And if we carefully observe each of these commandments as we live in the presence of the Lord, as he instructed us, then we will be right with him.”
And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.