Deuteronomy 6:3-7:11

English Standard Version

³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^(A)as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: ^(B)The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 5} You ^(C)shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And ^(D)these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ^7 (E)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^8 (F)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (G)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^(H)that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ^12 (I)then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is ^(J)the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^(K)by his name you shall swear. ¹⁴ You shall not ^(L)go after other gods, ^(M)the gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵ for ^(N)the Lord your God in your midst ^(O)is a jealous God—^(P)lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

^16 (Q)“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(R)as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall ^(S)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ^18 (T)And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ^19 (U)by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

^20 (V)“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ^(W)‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² And ^(X)the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. ²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^(Y)to fear the Lord our God, ^(Z)for our good always, that ^(AA)he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. ²⁵ And ^(AB)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

7 “When the ^(AC)Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^(AD)the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^(AE)more numerous and mightier than you, ^2 (AF)and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ^(AG)devote them to complete destruction.^{[b] (AH)}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ^3 (AI)You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^(AJ)Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^(AK)quickly. ⁵ But thus shall you deal with them: ^(AL)you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ^(AM)pillars and chop down their ^(AN)Asherim and ^(AO)burn their carved images with fire.

⁶ “For ^(AP)you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(AQ)a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but ^(AR)it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^(AS)the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^(AT)the faithful God ^(AU)who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰ and ^(AV)repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^(AW)He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ^11 (AX)You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.