Deuteronomy 6

1This is the commandment, the statutes and rulings, that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, so that you will keep them in the land you are crossing over to take possession of, 2so that you may fear the LORD your God and keep all his statutes and commandments that I am giving you, you and your children and grandchildren, as long as you live, and so that your life may be long. 3Listen then, Israel, and keep them with care. Then all will be well with you, and you will become very many in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

4Hear, Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You are to love the LORD your God with your whole heart, with your whole being, and with all your strength. 6Keep these words that I am commanding you today close to your heart. 7Teach them carefully to your children, and speak of them as you sit in your house and as you go on your way, as you lie down and as you rise. 8Tie them as a sign on your hand, and let them be a band between your eyes. 9Write them on the doorposts of your house and on the gates of your town.

10The LORD your God is bringing you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that he would give you. It has great and fine cities that you did not build, 11houses full of every kind of good thing that you did not put in them, cisterns cut in the rock that you did not cut, vineyards and olive groves you did not plant. When you have eaten your fill, 12then watch yourself, so that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13Fear the LORD your God and no other; serve him, and swear your oaths by his name. 14You must not go after other gods, any of the gods of the peoples that surround you. 15For the LORD your God, who is in your midst, is a jealous God; beware, or the anger of the LORD your God will blaze against you and he will wipe you off the face of the earth.

16You must not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17Take care to keep the commandments of the LORD your God, his decrees and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18Do what the LORD sees as right and good, so that all will be well with you and you can enter and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to your fathers, 19driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD promised.

20Some day your son will ask you, ‘What do they mean, these decrees, statutes and rulings that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21Then tell your son, ‘In Egypt we were slaves to Pharaoh, but by his strong hand the LORD led us out of Egypt. 22We saw it with our own eyes: the LORD brought great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh and on all his household. 23Us, though, he led out from there, so that he could bring us in and give us the land he swore to our fathers. 24The LORD commanded us to keep all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. 25Righteousness will be ours if we take care to keep this whole commandment in the presence of the LORD our God, as he commanded us.’