Deuteronomy 6:20 (DBY)

Passage

When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 6:18 And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:19 thrusting out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken.

Deuteronomy 6:20 When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you?

Deuteronomy 6:21 then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh's bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand;

Deuteronomy 6:22 and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes;

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shall", "thee", "time", "come", "saying", "testimonies", "statutes", and "ordinances". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shall" and "thee", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "thrusting out all thine enemies from before..." into verse 21's "then thou shalt say unto thy son...", so "shall" and "thee" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shall" and "thee" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.