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Exhortation to Keep the Covenant Principles

Now these are the commandments,[a] statutes, and ordinances that the Lord your God instructed me to teach you so that you may carry them out in the land where you are headed[b] and that you may so revere the Lord your God that you will keep all his statutes and commandments[c] that I am giving[d] you—you, your children, and your grandchildren—all your lives, to prolong your days. Pay attention, Israel, and be careful to do this so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in number[e]—as the Lord, the God of your ancestors,[f] said to you, you will have a land flowing with milk and honey.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 6:1 tn Heb “commandment.” The word מִצְוָה (mitsvah) again is in the singular, serving as a comprehensive term for the whole stipulation section of the book. See note on the word “commandments” in 5:31.
  2. Deuteronomy 6:1 tn Heb “where you are going over to possess it” (so NASB); NRSV “that you are about to cross into and occupy.”
  3. Deuteronomy 6:2 tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsvot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.
  4. Deuteronomy 6:2 tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
  5. Deuteronomy 6:3 tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
  6. Deuteronomy 6:3 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).

Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Yahweh your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess; that you might fear Yahweh your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

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