Deuteronomy 6

Modern

Literal

The Greatest Commandment

¹These are the commandments and statutes and ordinances that the LORD your God has instructed me to teach you to follow in the land that you are about to enter and possess,

¹And this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that YHWH your God has commanded to teach you to do in the land that you are passing over there to possess,

²so that you and your children and grandchildren may fear the LORD your God all the days of your lives by keeping all His statutes and commandments that I give you, and so that your days may be prolonged.

²so that you may fear YHWH your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I am commanding you—you and your son and the son of your son—all the days of your life, that your days may be prolonged.

³Hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

³Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, as YHWH, God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One.^a

⁴Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is One.

⁵And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.^a

⁵And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

⁶These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts.

⁶And these words that I am commanding you today shall be upon your heart.

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

⁷And you shall teach them diligently to your children and talk of them in your sitting in your house and in your walking by the way and in your lying down and in your getting up.

⁸Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

⁸And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

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

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

¹⁰And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build,

¹⁰And it shall be, when YHWH your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you cities large and beautiful that you did not build,

¹¹with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied,

¹¹and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and wells dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you have eaten and are satisfied,

¹²be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹²then take heed to it lest you forget YHWH who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹³Fear the LORD your God, serve Him only, and take your oaths in His name.^a

¹³YHWH your God you shall fear, and Him you shall serve, and by His name you shall swear.

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

¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you,

¹⁵For the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁵for a jealous God is YHWH your God among you—lest the anger of YHWH your God be kindled against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.^a

¹⁶You shall not test YHWH your God, as you tested Him in Massah.

¹⁷You are to diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God and the testimonies and statutes He has given you.

¹⁷You shall diligently keep the commandments of YHWH your God, and His testimonies and His statutes that He has commanded you.

¹⁸Do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that it may be well with you and that you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD your God swore to give your fathers,

¹⁸And you shall do right and good in the eyes of YHWH, that it may be well with you, that you may go in and possess the good land that YHWH swore to your fathers,

¹⁹driving out all your enemies before you, as the LORD has said.

¹⁹to cast out all your enemies from before you as YHWH has spoken.

Teach Your Children

²⁰In the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?”

²⁰When your son asks you hereafter, saying, “What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that YHWH our God has commanded you?”

²¹then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²¹Then you shall say to your son, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²²Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.

²²And YHWH showed signs and wonders, great and severe, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes.

²³But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

²³And He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in to give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

²⁴And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day.

²⁴And YHWH commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear YHWH our God, for good to us all the time, to keep us alive as this day.

²⁵And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”

²⁵And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this command before the face of YHWH our God, as He has commanded us.”