Love the Lord Your God

¹The Lord your God has directed me to teach you his commands, rules and laws. Obey them in the land you will take over when you go across the Jordan River. ² Then you, your children and their children after them will honor the Lord your God as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I’m giving you. If you do, you will enjoy long life. ³ Israel, listen to me. Make sure you obey me. Then things will go well with you. The number of your people will increase greatly in a land that has plenty of milk and honey. That’s what the Lord, the God of your parents, promised you.

⁴ Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is the one and only God. ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength. ⁶ The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts. ⁷ Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up. ⁸ Write them down and tie them on your hands as a reminder. Also tie them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses. Also write them on your gates.

¹⁰ The Lord your God will bring you into the land of Canaan. He gave his word. He promised he would give the land to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land has large, wealthy cities you didn’t build. ¹¹ It has houses filled with all kinds of good things you didn’t provide. The land has wells you didn’t dig. And it has vineyards and groves of olive trees you didn’t plant. You will have plenty to eat. ¹² But be careful that you don’t forget the Lord. Remember that he brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves.

¹³ Worship the Lord your God. He is the only one you should serve. When you make promises, do so in his name. ¹⁴ Don’t serve the gods of the nations around you. ¹⁵ The Lord your God is among you. He wants you to worship only him. If you worship other gods, God will be very angry with you. And he will destroy you from the face of the land. ¹⁶ Don’t test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to obey the Lord’s commands. Obey the terms and rules he has given you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the Lord’s eyes. Then things will go well with you. You will go in and take over the land. It’s the good land the Lord promised to your people of long ago. ¹⁹ You will drive out all your enemies to make room for you. That’s what the Lord said would happen.

²⁰ Later on, your child might ask you, “What is the meaning of the terms, rules and laws the Lord our God has commanded you to obey?” ²¹ If they do ask you, tell them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. But the Lord used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt. ²² With our own eyes we saw the Lord send amazing signs. They were great and terrible. He sent them on Egypt and Pharaoh and everyone in his house. ²³ But the Lord brought us out of Egypt. He planned to bring us into the land of Canaan and give it to us. It’s the land he promised to our people of long ago. ²⁴ The Lord our God commanded us to obey all his rules. He commanded us to honor him. If we do, we will always succeed and be kept alive. That’s what is happening today. ²⁵ We must make sure we obey the whole law in the sight of the Lord our God. That’s what he has commanded us to do. If we obey his law, we’ll be doing what he requires of us.”