²⁶ And when your children^(A) ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’

⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^(A)

²⁰ In the future, when your son asks you,^(A) “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” ²¹ tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(B) 22} Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. ²³ But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God,^(C) so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.^{(D) 25} And if we are careful to obey all this law^(E) before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.^(F)”

² Remember today that your children^(A) were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God:^(B) his majesty,^(C) his mighty hand, his outstretched arm;^{(D) 3} the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country;^{(E) 4} what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots,^(F) how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea^[a](G) as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. ⁵ It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, ⁶ and what he did^(H) to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened^(I) its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. ⁷ But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.^(J)

¹⁸ Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.^{(A) 19} Teach them to your children,^(B) talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^{(C) 20} Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates,^{(D) 21} so that your days and the days of your children may be many^(E) in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.^(F)

¹² Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn^(A) to fear^(B) the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. ¹³ Their children,^(C) who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

¹⁹ “Now write^(A) down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness^(B) for me against them. ²⁰ When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors,^(C) and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods^(D) and worship them,^(E) rejecting me and breaking my covenant.^{(F) 21} And when many disasters and calamities come on them,^(G) this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do,^(H) even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” ²² So Moses wrote^(I) down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day,^(A) so that you may command^(B) your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.

⁶ to serve as a sign^(A) among you. In the future, when your children^(B) ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’^(C)