The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 This is the commandment, the rules and regulations, that God, your God, commanded me to teach you to live out in the land you're about to cross into to possess.
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“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,
2 This is so that you'll live in deep reverence before God lifelong, observing all his rules and regulations that I'm commanding you, you and your children and your grandchildren, living good long lives.
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that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
3 Listen obediently, Israel. Do what you're told so that you'll have a good life, a life of abundance and bounty, just as God promised, in a land abounding in milk and honey.
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Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
4 Attention, Israel! God, our God! God the one and only!
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“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 Love God, your God, with your whole heart: love him with all that's in you, love him with all you've got!
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You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 Write these commandments that I've given you today on your hearts. Get them inside of you
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And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
7 and then get them inside your children. Talk about them wherever you are, sitting at home or walking in the street; talk about them from the time you get up in the morning to when you fall into bed at night.
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You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8 Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder;
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You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates.
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You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
10 When God, your God, ushers you into the land he promised through your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you, you're going to walk into large, bustling cities you didn't build,
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“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,
11 well-furnished houses you didn't buy, come upon wells you didn't dig, vineyards and olive orchards you didn't plant. When you take it all in and settle down, pleased and content,
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and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,
12 make sure you don't forget how you got there - God brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
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then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
13 Deeply respect God, your God. Serve and worship him exclusively. Back up your promises with his name only.
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It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
14 Don't fool around with other gods, the gods of your neighbors,
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You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—
15 because God, your God, who is alive among you is a jealous God. Don't provoke him, igniting his hot anger that would burn you right off the face of the Earth.
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for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God— lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
16 Don't push God, your God, to the wall as you did that day at Massah, the Testing-Place.
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“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
17 Carefully keep the commands of God, your God, all the requirements and regulations he gave you.
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You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
18 Do what is right; do what is good in God's sight so you'll live a good life and be able to march in and take this pleasant land that God so solemnly promised through your ancestors,
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And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers
19 throwing out your enemies left and right - exactly as God said.
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by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.
20 The next time your child asks you, "What do these requirements and regulations and rules that God, our God, has commanded mean?"
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“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you? ’
21 tell your child, "We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt and God powerfully intervened and got us out of that country.
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then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
22 We stood there and watched as God delivered miracle-signs, great wonders, and evil-visitations on Egypt, on Pharaoh and his household.
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And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.
23 He pulled us out of there so he could bring us here and give us the land he so solemnly promised to our ancestors.
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And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.
24 That's why God commanded us to follow all these rules, so that we would live reverently before God, our God, as he gives us this good life, keeping us alive for a long time to come.
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And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
25 "It will be a set-right and put-together life for us if we make sure that we do this entire commandment in the Presence of God, our God, just as he commanded us to do."
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And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us. ’
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025