Deuteronomy 6:20-25·~1 min

Teach Your Children

When a son asks what these commands mean, Israel is to answer with its story: the LORD brought them out of Pharaoh's slavery by mighty signs and led them toward the land sworn to their fathers.

I²⁰n the future, when your son asks, “What is the meaning of the decrees and statutes and ordinances that the LORD our God has commanded you?” ²¹then you are to tell him, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²²Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household. ²³But He brought us out from there to lead us in and give us the land that He had sworn to our fathers.

The statutes were commanded for Israel's good and preservation before the LORD. Careful obedience within that covenant life is named as Israel's righteousness.

²⁴And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God, that we may always be prosperous and preserved, as we are to this day. ²⁵And if we are careful to observe every one of these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us, then that will be our righteousness.”

Section summaryMoses imagines a child's question about Israel's laws and gives the answer Israel is to pass on: these commands rise from the Lord's rescue from Egypt and his gift of the land. Obedience is framed not as bare rule-keeping but as grateful life before the God who delivered and preserved them.

Role in the chapterThis closing section shows how covenant memory is to be spoken aloud. It turns the chapter's commands into a story the next generation can inherit, so that obedience remains tied to the Lord's saving acts rather than becoming empty habit.