Deuteronomy 6

₁Moses said: ‘These are the laws of the Lord your God. He told me to teach them to you so that you will do what the laws say in the land that you are going to take for yourselves. ₂This means that you, your children and grandchildren must serve the Lord your God and do what these laws that I give you say. You must do this for as long as you live. If you obey the laws that I give you, you will have a long and happy life. ₃Israelites, you must listen and do what these laws say, so that all will be well with you and you will become a great nation. The Lord, the God of your forefathers, promised that to you, and you will be in a land where there is a lot of food, milk and honey.

₄Listen, people of Israel, the Lord our God is the only real God. There is no other like Him. ₅And you must love the Lord. You must love Him with all your heart and with all your power. ₆You must remember everything that I tell you today ₇and you must teach it to your children. You must talk about these things when you sit down in your homes and when you walk somewhere, when you lie down and when you get up. ₈Tie something to your hands and write it on your foreheads so that you will remember these things when you do anything ₉and when you go out or come in at the doors of your houses and your town gates.

₁₀The Lord your God will bring you into the land that He promised to give to your forefathers. He promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He will give you big and beautiful towns and cities that you did not build. ₁₁He will also give you houses full of things that you did not buy, water-wells that you did not have to dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. When you have enough of everything, ₁₂you must be careful that you do not forget the Lord. You were slaves in the land of Egypt, but the Lord saved you from Egypt. ₁₃You must honour and serve the Lord your God and when you promise something, you must use only his name as a Witness. ₁₄Do not worship other gods, the gods of other nations around you. ₁₅Because the Lord your God is with you, and He wants you to serve only Him. If you want to worship other gods also, then God will be angry with you and He will destroy you and make you disappear from the earth. ₁₆Do not test the Lord your God and make Him angry as you did when you were at Massah. ₁₇You must do what the laws of the Lord your God say. ₁₈You must do things that are right and good, things that please the Lord. Then all will be well with you and you will have this good land that the Lord promised to your forefathers. ₁₉You will chase away your enemies. The Lord has promised it.

₂₀Later your children will ask you: “Why did the Lord our God give us these laws?”

₂₁Then you must tell your children: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power. ₂₂We saw the great signs and miracles that He did in Egypt when He made Pharaoh and his family suffer. ₂₃But the Lord brought us out of Egypt, and He brought us here and gave us this land that He had promised to give our forefathers. ₂₄He then told us to do everything that these laws say and to serve the Lord our God, so that all would be well with us and we could continue to live, like we are doing today. ₂₅If we are careful and do what the laws of the Lord our God say, then we are doing right as He wants.” ’