Deuteronomy 6:7 Meaning and Explanation
“And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Faithfulness in this chapter is meant to live in households as well as public assemblies. The verse addresses a lasting question: how can God's commands remain present across generations? Moses does not describe an occasional lesson alone. He pictures a people whose daily speech gives children repeated opportunities to hear, ask, remember, and learn to love the LORD.
Deuteronomy 6:7 calls Israel to pass God's words on to its children through careful, repeated conversation woven into the ordinary rhythms of home, travel, evening, and morning.
The Context of Deuteronomy 6:7
Moses speaks to Israel as the people prepare to enter the land promised to their fathers. He has introduced the commandments, statutes, and judgments that the LORD commanded Israel to do. Verses 4-5 declare Israel's confession of the one LORD and command wholehearted love for him. Verse 6 first places God's commanded words in the heart. Verse 7 then turns outward to children and daily speech. The following verses extend the same concern through signs, frontlets, and writing on house posts and gates. Later in the chapter Moses warns Israel not to forget the LORD amid the abundance of the land and prepares parents to answer a child's questions about God's commands.
What Does Deuteronomy 6:7 Mean?
The command begins, "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children." The "them" points back to the words commanded by God, especially the call to love the LORD wholeheartedly. Diligence here involves sustained care. Parents and the wider household are to bring God's words before children clearly and repeatedly. Moses then names four ordinary settings: sitting at home, walking along the way, lying down, and rising up. Together they encompass the regular course of life. The verse does not give a rigid lesson schedule. It calls for God's instruction to be a familiar part of the home's speech, so children may hear how his words belong amid rest, work, travel, and the beginning and close of each day.
Verse 7 follows the command that God's words "shall be in thine heart" in verse 6. Teaching is therefore joined to personal reception. Israel is called to speak from words that have been received and remembered, rather than treating them as distant information. This instruction also serves the chapter's concern for generations. Verse 2 names a person, that person's son, and that person's son's son; verses 20-25 anticipate a son asking what God's testimonies and statutes mean. The answer tells the story of the LORD's deliverance from Egypt and his purpose in bringing Israel into the promised land. Teaching includes commands and the saving acts of God that give those commands their setting.
Jesus later identifies the command of Deuteronomy 6:5 as the first commandment. That connection gives verse 7 a clear center: the words taught in daily life are words ordered by love for the LORD. Jesus himself grew within a household and increased in wisdom, and his ministry repeatedly formed disciples through conversation on roads, in homes, and at meals. Deuteronomy does not reduce instruction to information or family custom. It calls God's people to remember who the LORD is and what he has done. In Christ's teaching, love of God continues to call for a whole-life response that reaches the way we speak, remember, and form those entrusted to our care.
Bible Verses Related to Deuteronomy 6:7
“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:”
- Deuteronomy 6:6
“And when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD our God hath commanded you? Then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand: And the LORD shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes: And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he sware unto our fathers. 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 it is at this day. And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.”
- Deuteronomy 6:20-25
“And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”
- Deuteronomy 11:19
“And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”
- Mark 12:29-30
Where Deuteronomy 6:7 Echoes in Scripture
Deuteronomy 11:19 closely echoes this command, again calling Israel to teach God's words to children and to speak of them at home, on the way, at evening, and in the morning. The repetition shows that this pattern belongs to Israel's covenant life, not to a passing detail in one speech. In Deuteronomy 11, the instruction stands beside a call to love and serve the LORD with the whole heart and soul. The echo keeps daily teaching joined to covenant love and remembrance.
How to Apply Deuteronomy 6:7 Today
Many households have only brief shared moments, yet this verse gives those moments weight. A meal, a ride, a walk, a bedtime question, or the first minutes of a day can become occasions to recall a command, a psalm, a gospel account, or an answer to prayer. We can make room for honest questions instead of pretending every answer is simple. Those who are not parents may still help younger relatives, neighbors, learners, and church members by speaking truthfully and kindly about God's ways. The aim is a steady pattern of remembrance in which God's words are heard in the real circumstances of life.
Reflection & Prayer
Where in the ordinary pattern of our days is there room for God's words to be spoken and heard with care? We might name one recurring moment and prepare to use it for a short reading, question, or remembrance of God's help. Suggested prayer: "Lord, place thy words in our hearts, and give us gracious, faithful speech as we help one another remember thee."