Deuteronomy 6

1 “And this [is] the command, the statutes and the judgments which your God YHWH has commanded to teach you to do in the land which you are passing over there to possess it,

These are the commandments and rules and regulations that the Lord your God has ordered me to teach you to follow in the country that you're going to enter and occupy.

2 so that you fear your God YHWH, to keep all His statutes and His commands which I am commanding you, you, and your son, and your son’s son, all [the] days of your life, and so that your days are prolonged.

This is so you and your children and grandchildren will show respect to the Lord your God throughout your lives by keeping all his rules and regulations that I give you, and so that you may have a long life.

3 And you have heard, O Israel, and observed to do [them], that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply exceedingly, as YHWH, God of your fathers, has spoken to you, [in] the land flowing with milk and honey.

Listen, people of Israel, and be careful to observe them, so that you may do well and have many descendants in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your forefathers, promised you.

4 Hear, O Israel: Our God YHWH—YHWH [is] one!

Listen, people of Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is the only one.

5 And you have loved your God YHWH with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your mind and with all your being and with all your strength.

6 And these words which I am commanding you today have been on your heart,

The commands I'm giving you today must stay in your minds.

7 and you have repeated them to your sons, and spoken of them in your sitting in your house, and in your walking in the way, and in your lying down, and in your rising up,

You are to explain them carefully to your children and talk about them when you're at home and when you're traveling, when you lie down and when you get up.

8 and have bound them for a sign on your hand, and they have been for frontlets between your eyes,

Tie them on your hands as reminders and put them on your foreheads as well.

9 and you have written them on doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Write them on the doorposts of your homes and on your gates.

10 And it has been, when your God YHWH brings you into the land which He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you great and good cities which you have not built,

The Lord your God is going to take you into the country he promised to give you and your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It's a country with large, prosperous towns that you didn't build,

11 and houses full of all good things which you have not filled, and wells dug which you have not dug, vineyards and olive-yards which you have not planted, that you have eaten and been satisfied.

with houses full of plenty of good things that you didn't provide, that have wells you didn't dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant. When you eat and are full

12 Take heed to yourself lest you forget YHWH who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants.

make sure you don't forget the Lord who led you out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery.

13 You fear your God YHWH, and you serve Him, and you swear by His Name.

Respect the Lord your God only worship him, and only make promises in his name.

14 You do not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who [are] around you,

Don't worship any other gods, the gods of the peoples around you,

15 for your God YHWH [is] a zealous God in your midst—lest the anger of your God YHWH burns against you, and He has destroyed you from off the face of the ground.

because the Lord your God, who lives among you, is an exclusive God, and Lord your God will become angry with you, and he will wipe you out.

16 You do not try your God YHWH as you tried [Him] in Massah.

Don't test the Lord your God like you did at Massah.

17 You diligently keep the commands of your God YHWH, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you,

You must be careful to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and the laws and rules he's given you.

18 and you have done that which is right and good in the eyes of YHWH, so that it is well with you, and you have gone in and possessed the good land which YHWH has sworn to your fathers,

Do what's good and right in the Lord's sight so that it will go well for you and that you may enter and take over the good land that the Lord your God promised to give your forefathers,

19 to drive away all your enemies from your presence, as YHWH has spoken.

He will drive out all your enemies ahead of you, just as he said.

20 When your son asks you hereafter, saying, What [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments which our God YHWH has commanded you?

In the future, when your children come and ask you, “What's the point of decrees and rules and regulations that the Lord our God ordered you to follow?”

21 Then you have said to your son, We have been servants of Pharaoh in Egypt, and YHWH brings us out of Egypt by a high hand;

then you are to tell them, “Once we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord by his power led us out of Egypt.

22 and YHWH gives signs and wonders, great and severe, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;

Before our very eyes the Lord brought down incredible and terrifying signs and miracles on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his people.

23 and He has brought us out from there, in order to bring us in, to give to us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.

But he led us out of there to take us here, giving us this country that he had promised to our forefathers.

24 And YHWH commands us to do all these statutes, to fear our God YHWH, for good to ourselves [for] all the days, to keep us alive, as [at] this day;

The Lord ordered us to keep all these laws and to respect the Lord our God, so that we would always be safe and well, as we are today

25 and it is righteousness for us when we observe to do all this command before our God YHWH, as He has commanded us.”

And if we carefully observe each of these commandments as we live in the presence of the Lord, as he instructed us, then we will be right with him.”