Deuteronomy 6

1 Now these are the commandments, statutes, and decrees that Yahweh your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you might keep them in the land that you are going over the Jordan to 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 might honor Yahweh your God, so as to keep all his statutes and commandments that I am commanding you—you, your sons, and your sons' sons, all the days of your lives, 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 Therefore listen to them, Israel, and keep them, so that it may go well with you, so that you may greatly multiply, in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you would do.

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 Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is one.

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

5 You will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

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

6 The words that I am commanding you today will be in your heart;

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

7 and you will diligently teach them to your children; you will talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk on 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 You will tie them as a sign upon your hand, and they will serve as frontlets between your 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 You will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

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

10 When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you, with large and very good 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 and houses full of all kinds of good things that you did not make, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, you will eat and be 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 then be careful so that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you 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 You will honor Yahweh your God; him you will worship, and you will 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 You will not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you—

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

15 for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God—if you do, the anger of Yahweh your God will be kindled against you and he will destroy you from the surface 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 You will not test Yahweh 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 will diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, his solemn commands, and his statutes, that he has commanded you.

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

18 You will do what is right and good in the sight of Yahweh, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land that Yahweh swore to 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 to drive out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has said.

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

20 When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What are the covenant decrees, the statutes, and the other decrees that Yahweh our God 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 will say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; Yahweh 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 he displayed signs and wonders, great and severe, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on 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 there, so that he might bring us in, to give us the land that he swore 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 Yahweh commanded us to always keep all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God for our good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today.

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 If we keep all these commands before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us, this 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.’”