Deuteronomy 6:21 (DBY)

Passage

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;

Nearby Context

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;

Deuteronomy 6:23 and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "shalt", "pharaoh's", "bondmen", "egypt", "jehovah", and "brought". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "shalt", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "When thy son shall ask thee in..." into verse 22's "and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders great...", so "thou" and "shalt" 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 "thou" and "shalt" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.