Deuteronomy 6

1 Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it:

“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 that thou mightest 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.

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 therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of thy fathers, hath promised unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

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 is one LORD:

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

5 and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

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

6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be upon thine heart:

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

7 and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest 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 And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes.

[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 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thy house, and upon thy gates.

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

10 And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee; great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

“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 and houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and cisterns hewn out, which thou hewedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt eat and be full;

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 then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

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

13 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; and him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear by 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 Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples which are round about you;

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

15 for the LORD thy God in the midst of thee is a jealous God; lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from 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 Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in 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 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

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

18 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 sware unto thy 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 to thrust out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

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

20 When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath 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 thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and 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 and the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his house, before our eyes:

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 and he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto 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 do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as at 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 it shall be righteousness unto us, if we observe to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

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