When their children should ask in time to come, "What mean the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then the parents were to repeat the history of God's gracious dealings with them--how the Lord had wrought for their deliverance that they might obey His Law--and to declare to them, "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."

Moses sluttede med disse gribende ord: "Jeg tager i dag Himmelen og Jorden til vidne mod Eder på, at jeg har forelagt Eder livet og døden, velsignelsen og forbandelsen. Så vælg da livet, for at du og dit afkom må leve, idet du elsker Herren din Gud og adlyder hans røst og hænger ved ham; thi deraf afhænger dit liv og tallet på de dage, du kommer til at bo i det land, Herren svor at ville give dine fædre, Abraham, Isak og Jakob." 5. Mos. 30, 19-20.