Deuteronomy 6:4-7:11

Good News Translation

^4 (A)“Israel, remember this! The Lord—and the Lord alone—is our God.^{[a] 5 (B)}Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ^6 (C)Never forget these commands that I am giving you today. ⁷ Teach them to your children. Repeat them when you are at home and when you are away, when you are resting and when you are working. ⁸ Tie them on your arms and wear them on your foreheads as a reminder. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

Warning against Disobedience

^10 (D)“Just as the Lord your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he will give you a land with large and prosperous cities which you did not build. ¹¹ The houses will be full of good things which you did not put in them, and there will be wells that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant. When the Lord brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat, ¹² make certain that you do not forget the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves. ^13 (E)Honor the Lord your God, worship only him, and make your promises in his name alone. ¹⁴ Do not worship other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you. ¹⁵ If you do worship other gods, the Lord's anger will come against you like fire and will destroy you completely, because the Lord your God, who is present with you, tolerates no rivals.

^16 (F)“Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure that you obey all the laws that he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what the Lord says is right and good, and all will go well with you. You will be able to take possession of the fertile land that the Lord promised your ancestors, ¹⁹ and you will drive out your enemies, as he promised.

²⁰ “In times to come your children will ask you, ‘Why did the Lord our God command us to obey all these laws?’ ²¹ Then tell them, ‘We were slaves of the king of Egypt, and the Lord rescued us by his great power. ²² With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials. ²³ He freed us from Egypt to bring us here and give us this land, as he had promised our ancestors he would. ²⁴ Then the Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to honor him. If we do, he will always watch over our nation and keep it prosperous. ²⁵ If we faithfully obey everything that God has commanded us, he will be pleased with us.’^[b]

The Lord's Own People^(G)

7 ^(H)“The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ² When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy. ³ Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them, ⁴ because then they would lead your children away from the Lord to worship other gods. If that happens, the Lord will be angry with you and destroy you at once. ^5 (I)So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols. ^6 (J)Do this because you belong to the Lord your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

⁷ “The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. ⁸ But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt. ^9 (K)Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, ¹⁰ but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him. ¹¹ Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.