Deuteronomy 6:20 (GNV)

Passage

When thy sonne shall aske thee in time to come, saying, What meane these testimonies, and ordinances, and Lawes, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 6:18 And thou shalt doe that which is right and good in the sight of the Lord: that thou mayest prosper, and that thou mayest go in, and possesse that good land which the Lord sware vnto thy fathers,

Deuteronomy 6:19 To cast out all thine enemies before thee, as the Lord hath sayd.

Deuteronomy 6:20 When thy sonne shall aske thee in time to come, saying, What meane these testimonies, and ordinances, and Lawes, which the Lord our God hath commanded you?

Deuteronomy 6:21 Then shalt thou say vnto thy sonne, We were Pharaohs bondmen in Egypt: but the Lord brought vs out of Egypt with a mightie hand.

Deuteronomy 6:22 And the Lord shewed signes and wonders great and euill vpon Egypt, vpon Pharaoh, and vpon all his housholde, before our eyes,

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "To cast out all thine enemies before..." into verse 21's "Then shalt thou say vnto thy sonne...", so "sonne" and "shall" 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 "sonne" and "shall" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.