1   These are the commandments, statutes, and laws which the Lord your God commanded me to teach you to observe in the land into which you are passing to occupy it, 2   a land flowing with milk and honey, ^note so that you may fear the Lord your God and keep all his statutes and commandments which I am giving you, both you, your sons, and your descendants all your lives, and so that you may live long. 3   If you listen, O Israel, and are careful to observe them, you will prosper and increase greatly as the Lord the God of your fathers promised you.

4    5   Hear, O Israel, the Lord ^note is our God, one Lord, and you must love

Primary charge of Moses to the people the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength. 6   These commandments which I give you this day are to be kept in your heart; you shall repeat them to your sons, 7   and speak of them indoors and out of doors, when you lie down and when you rise. 8   Bind them as a sign on the hand and wear them as a phylactery on the forehead; 9   write them up on the door-posts of your houses and on your gates.

10   The Lord your God will bring you into the land which he swore to your forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give you, a land of great and fine cities which you did not build, 11   houses full of good things which you did not provide, rock-hewn cisterns which you did not hew, and vineyards and olive-groves which you did not plant. When you eat your fill there, 12   be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 13   You shall fear the Lord your God, serve him alone and take your oaths in his name. 14   You must not follow other gods, gods of the nations that are around you; 15   if you do, the Lord your God who is in your midst will be angry with you, and he will sweep you away off the face of the earth, for the Lord your God is a jealous god.

16   You must not challenge the Lord your God as you challenged him at Massah. ^note 17   You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God as well as the precepts and statutes which he gave you. 18   You must do what is right and good in the Lord's eyes so that all may go well with you, and you may enter and occupy the rich land which the Lord promised by oath to your forefathers; 19   then you shall drive out all your enemies before you, as the Lord promised.

20   When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the precepts, statutes, and laws which the Lord our God gave you? 21   ’, you shall say to him, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his strong hand, 22   sending great disasters, signs, and portents against the Egyptians and against Pharaoh and all his family, as we saw for ourselves. 23   But he led us out from there to bring us into the land and give it to us as he had promised to our forefathers. 24   The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God; it will be for our own good at all times, and he will continue to preserve our lives. 25   It will be counted to our credit if we keep all these commandments in the sight of the Lord our God, as he has bidden us.’

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