Deuteronomy 6

These are the commands, the rules, and the decisions that the LORD your God told me to teach you, so you would live by them in the land you are crossing over to take as your own.

1Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it:

NoteThe speaker is Moses, addressing the people of Israel in a series of farewell speeches on the far side of the Jordan, just before they cross into Canaan; "the land you are crossing over to take" is that country. "LORD" printed in capitals is the standard English way of marking the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters usually written YHWH. Jewish readers traditionally do not pronounce it, substituting a word meaning "my Lord", which is why English Bibles print the title rather than the name.

2The point is that you will honor and obey the LORD your God, and keep all his rules and commands that I am giving you, you and your children and your grandchildren, as long as you live, and that you will live a long time.

2That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.

Note"Honor and obey" translates a Hebrew verb that literally means "fear." In this kind of writing it covers the whole attitude a subject owes a king or a child a parent: awe, respect, and doing what he says. It is not primarily an emotion of terror.

3So listen, Israel, and be careful to do them. Then things will go well for you, and you will grow into a great many people in a land rich with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

3Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey.

Note"Flowing with milk and honey" is a set phrase for land that is exceptionally productive without irrigation works: milk from grazing herds and goats, honey either from wild bees or, more likely, thick syrup boiled from dates and figs. It advertises abundance, not two particular groceries.

4Listen, Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.

4Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

NoteThese words, in Hebrew beginning "Shema," became the central daily declaration of Jewish worship. The Hebrew sentence has no verb and can be read several ways: "the LORD our God, the LORD is one," "the LORD is our God, the LORD alone," or "the LORD our God is one LORD." Translators disagree, and the rendering keeps the ambiguity rather than choosing.

5Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

5And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

NoteThe three Hebrew words behind "heart," "soul," and "strength" do not divide a person the way English does. The heart is the seat of thought, will, and decision more than feeling; the "soul" is the whole living self, appetite and life-breath included, not a part that survives the body; and the third word literally means "muchness", force, capacity, and in later Jewish reading also property and wealth.

6These words I am commanding you today are to stay in your heart.

6And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:

7Teach them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Note"When you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up" is a way of saying "everywhere and at every hour" by naming the opposite ends of a day and of a household's movements.

8Tie them on your hands as a reminder, and wear them on your forehead, between your eyes.

8And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.

NoteIn the ancient world people wore amulets and inscribed bands on the arm and brow. Whether this instruction was meant as a figure of speech or as a literal practice was already debated; from at least the last centuries BC, Jewish practice took it literally, producing tefillin (also called phylacteries), small leather boxes holding these verses on parchment, strapped to the arm and the forehead for prayer.

9Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

9And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

NoteDoorposts are the uprights framing a house door; "gates" are the gateways of a walled town, which were also where elders met and legal cases were heard, so the two together cover private and public life. Jewish practice later fulfilled this with the mezuzah, a small case holding this passage fixed to the doorframe.

10The LORD your God is going to bring you into the land he promised with an oath to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you. It has large, fine cities you did not build,

10And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,

11houses full of every good thing you did not put there, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. When you have eaten all you want and are full,

11And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;

12then be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place where you were slaves.

12Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

13Honor and obey the LORD your God, serve him, and make your promises under oath in his name.

13Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.

NoteAn oath in this culture named a god as the witness and guarantor of your word, and invited that god's punishment if you lied. Swearing by a particular god's name was therefore a public declaration of whose authority you lived under, not merely a form of words.

14Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples living around you.

14Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the people which are round about you;

15The LORD your God, who is right there with you, will not share you with any other god. If you turn away, his anger will burn against you, and he will wipe you off the face of the earth.

15(For the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "will not share you" is elsewhere used of a husband's response to a wife's unfaithfulness. Applied to God it describes exclusive claim rather than petty envy: Israel is bound to one God by agreement, and worshiping another is treated as a broken marriage or a broken treaty.

16Do not put the LORD your God to the test, the way you tested him at Massah.

16Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

NoteMassah is a place name that means "testing," given after an incident in the wilderness where the people, out of water, demanded proof that God was among them (Exodus 17). "Testing" here means putting God on trial to see whether he will perform, not being tested oneself.

17Be careful to keep the commands of the LORD your God, along with the terms of his agreement and the rules he has given you.

17Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee.

Note"The terms of his agreement" renders a word for the stipulations of a covenant, a formal, binding arrangement between two parties, modeled on the treaties ancient kings made with lesser kings, complete with obligations, witnesses, and consequences. Much of Deuteronomy is written in that treaty form.

18Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight. Then things will go well for you, and you will go in and take the good land the LORD promised with an oath to your ancestors,

18And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers,

19as he drives out all your enemies ahead of you, just as the LORD said he would.

19To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

20In days to come your son will ask you, "What is the meaning of the terms, the rules, and the decisions that the LORD our God gave you?"

20And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you?

21Then say to your son, "We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

21Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand:

Note"With a strong hand" was ordinary political language in the ancient Near East for the coercive power of a ruler, Egyptian texts use it of Pharaoh. The claim is that a greater power overruled Pharaoh's.

22Right in front of us, the LORD sent signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on everyone in his household. They were huge and terrible.

22And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes:

Note"Signs and wonders" refers to the disasters inflicted on Egypt before the escape, the events usually called the plagues (Exodus 7–12). A "sign" is an event that carries a message; a "wonder" is one that astonishes.

23He brought us out of that place so he could bring us into this land and give it to us, the land he promised with an oath to our ancestors.

23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers.

24The LORD ordered us to obey all these rules and to honor the LORD our God, so that we would always do well and he would keep us alive, as we are today.

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 it is at this day.

25And if we are careful to obey all these commands in the presence of the LORD our God, just as he ordered us, that will be counted as our righteousness."

25And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "righteousness" means being in the right, standing in a relationship as one ought, the way a person cleared in court is in the right. It is a verdict about a relationship, not a score of personal virtue.