Deuteronomy 6

¹ These then are the commandments, the laws and the customs[*a] which Yahweh your God has instructed me to teach you that you may observe them in the land which you are going to make your own.

² Thus, if you fear Yahweh your God all the days of your life and if you keep all his laws and commandments which I lay on you, you will have a long life, you and your son and your grandson.

³ Listen then, Israel, keep and observe what will make you prosper and give you great increase, as Yahweh the God of your fathers has promised you, giving you a land where milk and honey flow.

⁴ ‘Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God is the one Yahweh.

⁵ You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.

⁶ Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart.

⁷ You shall repeat them to your children and say them over to them whether at rest in your house or walking abroad, at your lying down or at your rising;

⁸ you shall fasten them on your hand as a sign and on your forehead as a circlet;

⁹ you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ ‘When Yahweh has brought you into the land which he swore to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give you, with great and prosperous cities not of your building,

¹¹ houses full of good things not furnished by you, wells you did not dig, vineyards and olives you did not plant, when you have eaten these and had your fill,

¹² then take care you do not forget Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹³ You must fear Yahweh your God, you must serve him, by his name you must swear.

¹⁴ ‘Do not follow other gods, gods of the peoples round you,

¹⁵ for Yahweh your God who dwells among you is a jealous God; his anger could blaze out against you and wipe you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ Do not put Yahweh your God to the test as you tested him at Massah.

¹⁷ Keep the commandments of Yahweh your God and his decrees and laws that he has laid down for you,

¹⁸ and do what is right and good in the eyes of Yahweh so that you may prosper and take possession of the rich land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers,

¹⁹ driving out your enemies before you; this was the promise of Yahweh.

²⁰ ‘In times to come, when your son asks you, “What is the meaning of the decrees and laws and customs that Yahweh our God has laid down for you?”

²¹ you shall tell your son, “Once we were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt by his mighty hand.

²² Before our eyes Yahweh worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his House.

²³ And he brought us out from there to lead us into the land he swore to our fathers he would give to us.

²⁴ And Yahweh commanded us to observe all these laws and to fear Yahweh our God, so as to be happy for ever and to live, as he has granted us to do until now.

²⁵ For us right living will mean this: to keep and observe all these commandments before Yahweh our God as he has directed us.”