Deuteronomy 6:1-12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Great Commandment

6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, ² so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.^{(A) 3} Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.^(B)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{[a](C) 5} You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.^{(D) 6} Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.^{(E) 8} Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem^[b] on your forehead,^{(F) 9} and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.^(G)

Caution against Disobedience

¹⁰ “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,^{(H) 11} houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill,^{(I) 12} take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.