Open English Translation DEU Chapter 6

6 These are the instructions and rules and regulations that your god Yahweh ordered me to teach you all, to do in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy. 2 He wants you all to honour him, to follow all his instructions, and to keep his rules that I’m teaching you and your descendants so that your time on the land will be prolonged. 3 So, listen Yisrael and follow carefully so that it will go well for you and that you’ll increase in population in that very fertile land as your ancestors’ god, Yahweh, promised.

4 Listen Yisrael: Yahweh alone is our god[ref] 5 and you should love your god Yahweh with your whole mind, your entire being, and all your strength.[ref] 6 Always be considering these instructions that I’m giving you today,[ref] 7 and diligently teach them to your children, and talk about them when you’re sitting at home and when you’re out walking, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Your hands should always be applying them and your minds should always be evaluating them. 9 Carve them onto your doorposts at home, and on your city gates.

10 Your god Yahweh promised your ancestors Abraham,[ref] Yitshak,[ref] and Yakov,[ref] that he’d give you large, prosperous cities that you didn’t have to build, 11 houses full of every good thing that you didn’t have to collect, wells that you didn’t have to dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you didn’t have to plant. You’ll be able to eat and be satisfied, 12 but be sure to never forget that it was Yahweh who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. 13 You must honour your god Yahweh and only serve him and only make promises using his name.[ref] 14 Don’t go trying to follow other gods—the gods of the surrounding countries—15 because your god Yahweh who lives among you is a jealous god. You wouldn’t want him to get angry with you and totally destroy you.

16 Don’t test the patience of your god Yahweh again like you all did over water at Massah.[ref] 17 Be sure to follow all his instructions and rules and regulations that he’s given you. 18 Do what Yahweh says is right and good so that things will go well for you and you’ll be able to enter the good land that he promised to your ancestors and take possession of it—19 driving out all your enemies from that land just as Yahweh has said.

20 In the future when your children ask you, ‘Why did our god Yahweh our god command us to obey all these rules and decrees?’ 21 then you can tell them, ‘We were Far-oh’s slaves in Egypt, but Yahweh used his incredible power to get us out of there. 22 He did many kinds of miracles that devastated that Egyptian king and his whole household, 23 then he took us out of there, so he could bring us here to give us the land that he’d promised to our ancestors. 24 Yahweh ordered us to follow all these instructions to demonstrate that we honour him so that things will go well for us and he’ll protect our nation as he’s doing now. 25 Our god Yahweh will declare us to be innocent of wrong if we obey everything that he’s instructed us.’