The Greatest Commandment

(Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34)

1These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it: 2That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged. 3Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.

4Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. 5Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength. 6And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: 7And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising. 8And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes. 9And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.

10And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build, 11Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant, 12And thou shalt have eaten and be full: 13Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name. 14You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you: 15Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.

16Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation. 17Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee. 18And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers, 19That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

Teach Your Children

(Ephesians 6:1-4)

20And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us? 21Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight, 23And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers. 24And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day. 25And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.