Deuteronomy 6:20 is a question a child asks about God’s commands, and it sets up the answer parents are to give. In plain terms, the verse anticipates a future son asking what the decrees, rules and instructions God gave Israel actually mean, and it prepares the parent to tell the story of how God rescued them.
Moses is speaking to the whole nation of Israel on the plains of Moab, just before they enter the promised land. The verse is part of his instruction to the parents of that generation, who are told to explain their faith to the children who will grow up after them.
When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?”
Deuteronomy 6:20 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 6:20 Means
The verse begins with “When your son asks you in time to come.” Moses is not imagining a rare event. He expects children to ask questions, and he treats that curiosity as an opening for faith. The phrase “in time to come” points to the future, to a day when the parent will be asked and must be ready.
The child asks about “the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances.” These three words name different kinds of divine instruction: testimonies are reminders of what God has done and required, statutes are the laws that shape daily conduct, and ordinances are the judgments or regulations that guide Israel’s common life. Together they describe the whole shape of life under God’s covenant.
The verse does not promise that a child will always understand the answer quickly, nor that asking a question guarantees a tidy result. What it does say is that asking is good and that parents are meant to take the question seriously. The response itself, given in the following verses, is what gives the commands their meaning.
The Context of Deuteronomy 6:20
Deuteronomy is presented as Moses’ farewell addresses to Israel, delivered before he dies and before the people cross the Jordan. Its audience is the generation that came out of Egypt as children or was too young to remember the events at Sinai clearly, and it looks ahead to the settled life in Canaan. Traditionally Moses is named as its author, and that is how it is generally read.
The verses just before this one (Deuteronomy 6:17-19) urge careful obedience so that Israel may prosper and possess the land God promised. The verses just after (Deuteronomy 6:21-23) supply the answer the parent is to give: a recollection of slavery in Egypt, the mighty hand of God, and the gift of the land. Because the question and its answer are placed side by side, the commands are never presented as bare rules. They are always tied to a story of rescue.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 6:20
Deuteronomy 6:6-7
6 These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart; 7 and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
(WEB)
These verses, which come just before Deuteronomy 6:20, describe God’s words being kept in the heart and spoken throughout the day. They show that the conversation of Deuteronomy 6:20 is meant to happen naturally, at home and on the road, as part of ordinary life.
Psalm 78:4
We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
(WEB)
This psalm expresses the same commitment to telling the next generation about the Lord’s praiseworthy deeds and His commands. It echoes the duty described in Deuteronomy 6:20 and shows that the call to pass on faith continued long after Moses.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 6:20
Lord, you have given us a faith that is meant to be spoken, not only kept private. When our children ask us hard or simple questions about you, help us to answer with honesty and with the stories of your faithfulness in our own lives. Give us patience when the questions come at inconvenient moments, and wisdom to connect each command to your love and rescue. Let our homes be places where your ways are learned and loved, for the sake of the generations still to come. Amen.
