The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(A)the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, ^2 (B)that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, ^(C)and that your days may be prolonged. ³ Therefore hear, O Israel, and ^[a]be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may ^(D)multiply greatly ^(E)as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—^(F)‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

^4 (G)“Hear, O Israel: ^[b]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ^5 (H)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, ^(I)with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶ “And ^(J)these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ^7 (K)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ^8 (L)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (M)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Caution Against Disobedience

¹⁰ “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He ^[c]swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities ^(N)which you did not build, ¹¹ houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—^(O)when you have eaten and are full— ¹² then beware, lest you forget the ^(P)Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹³ You shall ^(Q)fear the Lord your God and serve Him, and ^(R)shall take oaths in His name. ¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, ^(S)the gods of the peoples who are all around you ¹⁵ (for ^(T)the Lord your God is a jealous God ^(U)among you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

^16 (V)“You shall not ^[d]tempt the Lord your God ^(W)as you ^[e]tempted Him in Massah. ¹⁷ You shall ^(X)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸ And you ^(Y)shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, ^19 (Z)to cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

^20 (AA)“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt ^(AB)with a mighty hand; ²² and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. ²³ Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He ^[f]swore to our fathers. ²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to ^[g]observe all these ^[h]statutes, ^(AC)to fear the Lord our God, ^(AD)for our good always, that ^(AE)He might preserve us alive, as it is ^[i]this day. ²⁵ Then ^(AF)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “Every commandment which I command you today ^(A)you must ^[a]be careful to observe, that you may live and ^(B)multiply,^[b] and go in and possess the land of which the Lord ^[c]swore to your fathers. ² And you shall remember that the Lord your God ^(C)led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and ^(D)test you, ^(E)to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ So He humbled you, ^(F)allowed you to hunger, and ^(G)fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall ^(H)not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (I)Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. ^5 (J)You should ^[d]know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

⁶ “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, ^(K)to walk in His ways and to fear Him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^(L)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ^10 (M)When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹ “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, ^12 (N)lest—when you have eaten and are ^[e]full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; ¹³ and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are ^[f]multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ^14 (O)when your heart ^[g]is lifted up, and you ^(P)forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; ¹⁵ who ^(Q)led you through that great and terrible wilderness, ^(R)in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; ^(S)who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with ^(T)manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, ^(U)to do you good in the end— ¹⁷ then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’

¹⁸ “And you shall remember the Lord your God, ^(V)for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, ^(W)that He may ^[h]establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, ^(X)I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ As the nations which the Lord destroys before you, ^(Y)so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the Lord your God.