When the festival begins, explain to your sons that you do all this because of what the LORD did for you when you left Egypt.

This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on your hand or on your forehead; it will remind you to continue to recite and study the Law of the LORD, because the LORD brought you out of Egypt by his great power.

In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, 'By using great power the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves.

Be on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Tell your children and your grandchildren

"In times to come your children will ask you, 'Why did the LORD our God command us to obey all these laws?'

With our own eyes we saw him work miracles and do terrifying things to the Egyptians and to their king and to all his officials.

With our own ears we have heard it, O God--- our ancestors have told us about it, about the great things you did in their time, in the days of long ago:

Now that I am old and my hair is gray, do not abandon me, O God! Be with me while I proclaim your power and might to all generations to come.

He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob. He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to their children,

so that the next generation might learn them and in turn should tell their children.

Tell your children about it; they will tell their children, who in turn will tell the next generation.

Parents, do not treat your children in such a way as to make them angry. Instead, raise them with Christian discipline and instruction.

Now, Your Majesty, the LORD says that you will find out who he is by what he is going to do. Look, I am going to strike the surface of the river with this stick, and the water will be turned into blood.

People will say, "The righteous are indeed rewarded; there is indeed a God who judges the world."

I let them defile themselves with their own offerings, and I let them sacrifice their first-born sons. This was to punish them and show them that I am the LORD.

I brought them to the land I had promised to give them. When they saw the high hills and green trees, they offered sacrifices at all of them. They made me angry by the sacrifices they burned and by the wine they brought as offerings.