Deuteronomy 6:7

6:7 and you must teach ¹  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ²  as you lie down, and as you get up.

Genesis 18:19

18:19 I have chosen him ³  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ⁴  the way of the Lord by doing ⁵  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ⁶  to Abraham what he promised ⁷  him.”

Psalms 78:4-8

78:4 we will not hide from their ⁸  descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ⁹ 

about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

78:5 He established a rule ¹⁰  in Jacob;

he set up a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to make his deeds known to their descendants, ¹¹ 

78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,

might know about them.

They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. ¹² 

78:7 Then they will place their confidence in God.

They will not forget the works of God,

and they will obey ¹³  his commands.

78:8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that was not committed

and faithful to God. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

² tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

³ tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the Lord.

⁴ tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).

⁵ tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

⁶ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

⁷ tn Heb “spoke to.”

⁸ tn The pronominal suffix refers back to the “fathers” (“our ancestors,” v. 3).

⁹ tn Heb “to a following generation telling the praises of the Lord.” “Praises” stand by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).

¹¹ tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

¹² tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”

¹³ tn Heb “keep.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “a generation that did not make firm its heart and whose spirit was not faithful with God.” The expression “make firm the heart” means “to be committed, devoted” (see 1 Sam 7:3).