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Deuteronomy 6

The Greatest Commandment

1 “Now this is ^athe commandment—the statutes and the rules ^{▼

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Or just decrees; also verse 20}—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that ^cyou may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^dthat your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly ^eas the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 “Hear, O Israel: ^fThe Lord our God, the Lord is one. ^{▼

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Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone} 5 You ^hshall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And ⁱthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 ^jYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 ^kYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 ^lYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^mthat you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 12 ⁿthen take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is ^othe Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^pby his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not ^qgo after other gods, ^rthe gods of the peoples who are around you— 15 for ^sthe Lord your God in your midst ^tis a jealous God— ^ulest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

16 ^v“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test ^was you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall ^xdiligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 ^yAnd you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers 19 ^zby thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

20 ^aa“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ^ab‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And ^acthe Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^adto fear the Lord our God, ^aefor our good always, that ^afhe might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And ^agit will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’