Deuteronomy 6:16-25

Exhortation to Obey the Lord Exclusively

6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. ¹  6:17 Keep his ²  commandments very carefully, ³  as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper ⁴  and good before the Lord so that it may go well with you and that you may enter and occupy the good land that he ⁵  promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.

Exhortation to Remember the Past

6:20 When your children ⁶  ask you later on, “What are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God commanded you?” 6:21 you must say to them, ⁷  “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. ⁸  6:22 And he ⁹  brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family ¹⁰  before our very eyes. 6:23 He delivered us from there so that he could give us the land he had promised our ancestors. 6:24 The Lord commanded us to obey all these statutes and to revere him ¹¹  so that it may always go well for us and he may preserve us, as he has to this day. 6:25 We will be innocent if we carefully keep all these commandments ¹²  before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” ¹³ 

¹ sn The place name Massah (מַסָּה, massah) derives from a root (נָסָה, nasah) meaning “to test; to try.” The reference here is to the experience in the Sinai desert when Moses struck the rock to obtain water (Exod 17:1-2). The complaining Israelites had, thus, “tested” the Lord, a wickedness that gave rise to the naming of the place (Exod 17:7; cf. Deut 9:22; 33:8).

² tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

³ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute before the finite verb to emphasize the statement. The imperfect verbal form is used here with an obligatory nuance that can be captured in English through the imperative. Cf. NASB, NRSV “diligently keep (obey NLT).”

⁴ tn Heb “upright.”

⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

⁶ tn Heb “your son.”

⁷ tn Heb “to your son.”

⁸ tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The Lord is commonly depicted as a divine warrior in the Book of Deuteronomy (cf. 5:15; 7:8; 9:26; 26:8).

⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

¹⁰ tn Heb “house,” referring to the entire household.

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord our God.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

¹² tn The term “commandment” (מִצְוָה, mitsvah), here in the singular, refers to the entire body of covenant stipulations.

¹³ tn Heb “as he has commanded us” (so NIV, NRSV).