6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build, 6:11 houses filled with choice things you did not accumulate, hewn out cisterns you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant – and you eat your fill, 6:12 be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, that place of slavery. 2 6:13 You must revere the Lord your God, serve him, and take oaths using only his name. 6:14 You must not go after other gods, those 3 of the surrounding peoples, 6:15 for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a jealous God and his anger will erupt against you and remove you from the land. 4
6:16 You must not put the Lord your God to the test as you did at Massah. 5 6:17 Keep his 6 commandments very carefully, 7 as well as the stipulations and statutes he commanded you to observe. 6:18 Do whatever is proper 8 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 9 promised your ancestors, 6:19 and that you may drive out all your enemies just as the Lord said.
6:20 When your children 10 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, 11 “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. 12 6:22 And he 13 brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family 14 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 15 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 16 before the Lord our God, just as he demands.” 17
1 sn The Hebrew term מְזוּזֹת (mÿzuzot) refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 443-44.
2 tn Heb “out of the house of slavery” (so NASB, NRSV).
3 tn Heb “from the gods.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
4 tn Heb “lest the anger of the
5 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
6 tn Heb “the commandments of the
7 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).”
8 tn Heb “upright.”
9 tn Heb “the
10 tn Heb “your son.”
11 tn Heb “to your son.”
12 tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The
13 tn Heb “the
14 tn Heb “house,” referring to the entire household.
15 tn Heb “the
16 tn The term “commandment” (מִצְוָה, mitsvah), here in the singular, refers to the entire body of covenant stipulations.
17 tn Heb “as he has commanded us” (so NIV, NRSV).