The Greatest Commandment
(Matthew 22:34–40; Mark 12:28–34)

1And this is the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that YHWH your⁺ God has commanded to teach you⁺ to do in the land that you⁺ are passing over there to possess, 2so that you may fear YHWH your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I am commanding you—you and your son and the son of your son—all the days of your life, that your days may be prolonged. 3Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you⁺ may multiply greatly, as YHWH, God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

4Hear, O Israel: YHWH our God, YHWH is One.† 5And you shall love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.†

6And these words that I am commanding you today shall be upon your heart. 7And you shall teach them diligently to your children and talk of them in your sitting in your house and in your walking by the way and in your lying down and in your getting up. 8And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates.

10And it shall be, when YHWH your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to you cities large and beautiful that you did not build, 11and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and wells dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you have eaten and are satisfied, 12then take heed to it lest you forget YHWH who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

13YHWH your God you shall fear, and Him you shall serve, and by His name you shall swear.† 14You⁺ shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you⁺, 15for a jealous God is YHWH your God among you—lest the anger of YHWH your God be kindled against you and destroy you from the face of the earth.

16You⁺ shall not test YHWH your⁺ God, as you⁺ tested Him in Massah.† 17You⁺ shall diligently keep the commandments of YHWH your⁺ God, and His testimonies and His statutes that He has commanded you. 18And you shall do right and good in the eyes of YHWH, that it may be well with you, that you may go in and possess the good land that YHWH swore to your fathers, 19to cast out all your enemies from before you as YHWH has spoken.

Teach Your Children

20When your son asks you hereafter, saying, “What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that YHWH our God has commanded you⁺?” 21Then you shall say to your son, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and YHWH brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22And YHWH showed signs and wonders, great and severe, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes. 23and He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in to give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

24And YHWH commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear YHWH our God, for good to us all the time, to keep us alive as this day. 25And it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this command before the face of YHWH our God, as He has commanded us.”