What God Requires

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear^(A) the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?^(B)

⁴ “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a](A) 5} Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.^{(B) 6} These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.^{(C) 7} Repeat them to your children.^(D) Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol^[b] on your forehead.^{[c](E) 9} Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Choose Life

¹¹ “This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach. ¹² It is not in heaven so that you have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ ¹³ And it is not across the sea so that you have to ask, ‘Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?’ ¹⁴ But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.^{(A) 15} See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.^{(B) 16} For^[a] I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live^[b] and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.