The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is athe commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 bthat you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, cand that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and 1be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may dmultiply greatly eas the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—f‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’

4 g“Hear, O Israel: 2The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 hYou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, iwith all your soul, and with all your strength.

6 “And jthese words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 kYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 lYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 mYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Caution Against Disobedience

10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He 3swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities nwhich you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—owhen you have eaten and are full—12 then beware, lest you forget the pLord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 13 You shall qfear the Lord your God and serve Him, and rshall take oaths in His name. 14 You shall not go after other gods, sthe gods of the peoples who are all around you 15 (for tthe Lord your God is a jealous God uamong you), lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

16 v“You shall not 4tempt the Lord your God was you 5tempted Him in Massah. 17 You shall xdiligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, His testimonies, and His statutes which He has commanded you. 18 And you yshall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land of which the Lord swore to your fathers, 19 zto cast out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

20 a“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt bwith a mighty hand; 22 and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household. 23 Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He 6swore to our fathers. 24 And the Lord commanded us to 7observe all these 8statutes, cto fear the Lord our God, dfor our good always, that eHe might preserve us alive, as it is 9this day. 25 Then fit will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to apossess, and has cast out many bnations before you, cthe Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, 2 and when the Lord your God delivers dthem over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. eYou shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. 3 fNor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. 4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; gso the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall hdestroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their 1wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.

6 “For you are a 2holy people to the Lord your God; ithe Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7 The Lord did not set His jlove on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were kthe least of all peoples; 8 but lbecause the Lord loves you, and because He would keep mthe oath which He swore to your fathers, nthe Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of 3bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, othe faithful God pwho keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not 4be qslack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.

Blessings of Obedience

12 “Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers. 13 And He will rlove you and bless you and 5multiply you; sHe will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He 6swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female tbarren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the uterrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16 Also you shall 7destroy all the peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will vbe a snare to you.

17 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’—18 you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall wremember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 xthe great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 yMoreover the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. 21 You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you. 22 And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you zlittle by little; you will be unable to 8destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed. 24 And aHe will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; bno one shall be able to stand 9against you until you have destroyed them. 25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not ccovet 1the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, dfor it is an 2accursed thing.

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “Every commandment which I command you today ayou must 1be careful to observe, that you may live and bmultiply, 2and go in and possess the land of which the Lord 3swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the Lord your God cled you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and dtest you, eto know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, fallowed you to hunger, and gfed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall hnot live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. 4 iYour garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 jYou should 4know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, kto walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, la land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 mWhen you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

11 “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 nlest—when you have eaten and are 5full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are 6multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 owhen your heart 7is lifted up, and you pforget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who qled you through that great and terrible wilderness, rin which …