1The LORD your God has instructed me to teach you his commands, rules and laws. Obey them in the land you will take over when you go across the River Jordan.2Then you, your children and their children after them will honour the LORD your God as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I’m giving you. If you do, you will enjoy long life.3Israel, listen to me. Make sure you obey me. Then things will go well with you. The number of your people will increase greatly in a land that has plenty of milk and honey. That’s what the LORD, the God of your parents, promised you.4Israel, listen to me. The LORD is our God. The LORD is the one and only God.5Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength.6The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts.7Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up.8Write them down and tie them on your hands as a reminder. Also tie them on your foreheads.9Write them on the doorframes of your houses. Also write them on your gates.10The LORD your God will bring you into the land of Canaan. He gave his word. He promised he would give the land to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land has large, wealthy cities you didn’t build.11It has houses filled with all kinds of good things you didn’t provide. The land has wells you didn’t dig. And it has vineyards and groves of olive trees you didn’t plant. You will have plenty to eat.12But be careful that you don’t forget the LORD. Remember that he brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves.13Worship the LORD your God. He is the only one you should serve. When you make promises, do so in his name.14Don’t serve the gods of the nations around you.15The LORD your God is among you. He wants you to worship only him. If you worship other gods, God will be very angry with you. And he will destroy you from the face of the land.16Don’t test the LORD your God as you did at Massah.17Be sure to obey the LORD’s commands. Obey the terms and rules he has given you.18Do what is right and good in the LORD’s eyes. Then things will go well with you. You will go in and take over the land. It’s the good land the LORD promised to your people of long ago.19You will drive out all your enemies to make room for you. That’s what the LORD said would happen.20Later on, your child might ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the terms, rules and laws the LORD our God has commanded you to obey?’21If they do ask you, tell them, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. But the LORD used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt.22With our own eyes we saw the LORD send amazing signs. They were great and terrible. He sent them on Egypt and Pharaoh and everyone in his house.23But the LORD brought us out of Egypt. He planned to bring us into the land of Canaan and give it to us. It’s the land he promised to our people of long ago.24The LORD our God commanded us to obey all his rules. He commanded us to honour him. If we do, we will always succeed and be kept alive. That’s what is happening today.25We must make sure we obey the whole law in the sight of the LORD our God. That’s what he has commanded us to do. If we obey his law, we’ll be doing what he requires of us.’
Deuteronomy 6
English Standard Version
The Greatest Commandment
1“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules[1]—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, (De 4:1; De 5:31; De 12:1)2that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. (De 4:40; De 5:29; De 10:12; De 10:20; De 13:4; Ps 128:1; Ec 12:13)3Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. (Ge 15:5; Ge 22:17; Ge 26:4; Ge 28:14; Ex 32:13)4“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[2] (Isa 42:8; Zec 14:9; Mr 12:29; Joh 17:3; 1Co 8:4; 1Co 8:6)5You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (2Ki 23:25; Mt 22:37; Mr 12:30; Lu 10:27)6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (De 11:18; De 32:46; Ps 37:31; Isa 51:7; Jer 31:33)7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (De 4:9)8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (Ex 13:9; De 11:18; Pr 3:3; Pr 6:21; Pr 7:3)9You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (De 11:20; Isa 57:8)10“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, (Jos 11:13; Jos 24:13; Ne 9:25; Ps 105:44)11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,12then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Pr 30:8)13It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. (De 10:20; Jos 2:12; Ps 63:11; Isa 45:23; Isa 65:16; Jer 12:16; Mt 4:10; Lu 4:8)14You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you— (De 8:19; De 11:16; De 11:28; De 13:2; De 13:7; De 28:14; Jer 25:6)15for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. (Ex 20:5; De 7:4; De 7:21; De 11:17)16“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. (Ex 17:2; De 9:22; De 33:8; Ps 95:8; Mt 4:7; Lu 4:12; 1Co 10:9)17You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. (De 11:22; Ps 119:4)18And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers (De 12:25)19by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised. (Ex 23:28; Nu 33:52)20“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ (Ex 12:26; Ex 13:14)21then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. (Ex 20:2)22And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. (De 4:34; Ps 135:9)23And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.24And 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 we are this day. (Le 18:5; De 4:1; De 6:2; De 6:13; De 8:1; De 10:13; Ps 41:2; Jer 32:39)25And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’ (De 24:13)