²⁶ When your children^(A) ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’

⁷ Repeat them to your children.^(A) 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.

²⁰ “When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning^(A) of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.^{(B) 22} Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt,^(C) on Pharaoh, and on all his household, ²³ but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. ²⁵ Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

² Understand today that it is not your children who experienced or saw the discipline of the Lord your God:

His greatness, strong hand, and outstretched arm;^{(A) 3} his signs and the works he did in Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and all his land;^{(B) 4} what he did to Egypt’s army, its horses and chariots, when he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued you, and he destroyed them^(C) completely;^{[a] 5} what he did to you in the wilderness until you reached this place; ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when in the middle of the whole Israelite camp the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing with them.^(D)

⁷ Your own eyes have seen^(E) every great work the Lord has done.

¹⁸ “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol^[a] on your foreheads.^{[b] 19} Teach them to your children,^(A) talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates,^{(B) 21} so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.^(C)

¹² Gather the people—men, women, dependents, and the resident aliens within your city gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear^(A) the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law. ¹³ Then their children^(B) who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

¹⁹ Therefore write down this song^(A) for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; have them sing it,^[a] so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites. ²⁰ When I bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(B) they will eat their fill^(C) and prosper.^[b] They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising me^(D) and breaking my covenant.^{(E) 21} And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because^[c] their descendants will not have forgotten it. For I know what they are prone to do,^[d] even before I bring them into the land I swore to give them.” ²² So Moses wrote down this song on that day and taught it to the Israelites.

⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I am giving as a warning to you today,^(A) so that you may command your children to follow all the words of this law carefully.^(B)

⁶ so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ^(A)