Deuteronomy 6

1 “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.

“These are the precepts and ceremonies, as well as the judgments, which the Lord your God has commanded that I teach to you, which you shall do in the land to which you will travel in order to possess it.

2 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.

So may you fear the Lord your God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I am entrusting to you, and to your sons and grandsons, all the days of your life, so that your days may be prolonged.

3 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].

Listen and observe, O Israel, so that you may do just as the Lord has instructed you, and it may be well with you, and you may be multiplied all the more, for the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.

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

Listen, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.

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

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

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

And these words, which I instruct to you this day, shall be in your heart.

7 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.

And you shall explain them to your sons. And you shall meditate upon them sitting in your house, and walking on a journey, when lying down and when rising up.

8 [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].

And you shall bind them like a sign on your hand, and they shall be placed and shall move between your eyes.

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

And you shall write them at the threshold and on the doors of your house.

10 “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.

And when the Lord your God will have led you into the land, about which he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when he will have given to you great and excellent cities, which you did not build;

11 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,

houses full of goods, which you did not amass; cisterns, which you did not dig; vineyards and olive groves, which you did not plant;

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

and when you will have eaten and been satisfied:

13 “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.

take care diligently, lest you forget the Lord, who led you away from the land of Egypt, from the house of servitude. You shall fear the Lord your God, and you shall serve him alone, and you shall swear by his name.

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

You shall not go after the strange gods of all the Gentiles, who are around you.

15 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.

For the Lord your God is a jealous God in your midst. Otherwise, at some time, the fury of the Lord your God may be enraged against you, and he may take you away from the face of the earth.

16 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.

You shall not tempt the Lord your God, as you tempted him in the place of temptation.

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

Keep the precepts of the Lord your God, as well as the testimonies and ceremonies, which he has instructed to you.

18 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.

And do what is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may be well with you, and so that, when you enter, you may possess the excellent land, about which the Lord swore to your fathers

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

that he would wipe away all your enemies before you, just as he has spoken.

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

And when your son will ask you tomorrow, saying: ‘What do these testimonies and ceremonies and judgments mean, which the Lord our God has entrusted to us?’

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

You shall say to him: ‘We were servants of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord led us away from Egypt with a strong hand.

22 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.

And he wrought signs and wonders, great and very grievous, in Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his house, in our sight.

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

And he led us away from that place, so that he might lead us in and give us the land, about which he swore to our fathers.

24 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.

And the Lord instructed us that we should do all these ordinances, and that we should fear the Lord our God, so that it may be well with us all the days of our life, just as it is today.

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

And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and perform all his precepts, in the sight of the Lord our God, just as he has commanded us.’”