“Now this is the command; the statutes and the judgments which the LORD your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you might do them in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess, 2 so that you and your son and your grandson may afear and worship the LORD your God with awe-filled reverence and profound respect, to keep and actively do all His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you, ball the days of your life, so that your days may be prolonged.Ex 20:20; Deut 10:12; Ps 111:10; 128:1; Eccl 12:13Deut 4:9 3 Therefore listen, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that ait may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in numbers, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in ba land 1flowing with milk and honey.This phrase referred to the abundant fertility of the land of Canaan. Milk (typically that of goats and sheep) was associated with abundance; “honey” referred mainly to syrups made from dates or grapes and was the epitome of sweetness. Bees’ honey was very rare and was considered the choicest of foods.Deut 5:33Ex 3:8, 17
4 “aHear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is bone the only God!Matt 22:37; Mark 12:29, 30; Luke 10:27Deut 4:35, 39; John 10:30; 1 Cor 8:4; Eph 4:6 5 aYou shall love the LORD your God bwith all your heart and mind and with all your soul and with all your strength your entire being.Matt 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27Deut 4:29; 10:12 6 aThese words, which I am commanding you today, shall be written on your heart and mind.Deut 11:18 7 aYou shall teach them diligently to your 1children impressing God’s precepts on their minds and penetrating their hearts with His truths and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up.Lit sons.Deut 4:9; 11:19; Eph 6:4 8 And you ashall bind them as a sign on your hand , and they shall be used as 1bands on your forehead.Or phylacteries. This is originally a Greek word meaning “safeguard.” In Jewish tradition these are also called tefillin, and are understood to be small leather boxes tied to the forearm and to the top of the head with leather straps. The boxes contain small parchment copies of the passage found here and three others.Ex 12:14; 13:9, 16; Deut 11:18; Prov 3:3; 6:21; 7:3 9 aYou shall write them on the 1doorposts of your house and on your gates.Heb mezuzoth, which—like tefillin (v 8)—also have special significance in Jewish tradition. The (singular) mezuzah is a piece of parchment on which is written this passage (6:4-9) and 11:13-21. The parchment is encased to protect it, and is attached to the right doorpost. By Jewish law, all rooms where people live or sleep (excluding bathrooms) are required to have mezuzoth on the doorposts.Deut 11:20
10 “Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to give your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give you, a land with agreat and splendid cities which you did not build,Deut 9:1; 19:1; Josh 24:13; Ps 105:44 11 and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig out, and vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and ayou eat and are full and satisfied,Deut 8:10; 11:15; 14:29 12 then 1beware that ayou do not forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.Lit take heed to yourself.Deut 4:9 13 aYou shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall serve Him with awe-filled reverence and profound respect and bswear oaths by His name alone.Deut 13:4; Matt 4:10; Luke 4:8Deut 5:11; 10:20; Ps 63:11; Matt 5:33 14 aYou shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,Jer 25:6 15 for the LORD your God who is among you is a 1ajealous God demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His—otherwise the anger of the LORD your God will be kindled and burn against you, and He will destroy you from the face of the earth.See note 4:24.Deut 4:24; 5:9
16 “aYou shall not put the LORD your God to the test, bas you tested Him at Massah. Ex 17:7Matt 4:7; Luke 4:12Ex 17:7 17 aYou shall diligently keep foremost in your thoughts and actively do the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.Deut 11:22; Ps 119:4 18 You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, so that ait may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to give your fathers,Deut 4:40 19 by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.
20 “aWhen your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and statutes and judgments which the LORD our God has commanded you?’Ex 13:8, 14 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Moreover, the LORD showed great and terrible signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; 23 He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to give our fathers.’ 24 So the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to afear and worship the LORD our God with awe-filled reverence and profound respect for our good always and so that He might bpreserve us alive, as it is today.Deut 10:12; Jer 32:39Ps 41:2; Luke 10:28 25 aIt will be considered righteousness for us that is, right standing with God if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God—just as He has commanded us.Deut 24:13; Rom 10:3