Translation
and you shall use them to prick
Go to footnote numberthose who will build [your family line],
Go to footnote numberand you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you go along the way, when you lie down and when you rise up,
Go to footnote numberParaphrase
and you must effectively teach them to your children by whetting [their appetites] and by piercing their innermost being with these commands. Do so by talking to them about these things when you are sitting down at home to eat together and pass the evenings together, and when you are traveling somewhere; do this all day long.
Footnotes
1
The word for “teach” comes from a root that means “to point.” It was used to communicate the following ideas: “to pierce, to prick, to sharpen, to whet [the appetite]” and thus “to inculcate or to teach.”
2
This word comes from a root meaning “to build.” It was used of “children” because they would build the family line.
3
By referring to lying down and getting up, Moses was pointing to evening and morning. We usually reverse the order and say morning and evening, and by so doing we mean “all day long.” Although it is true that there are special teaching activities we can do with young children when they go to bed and when they get up, this choice of words also communicated the idea of “all day long,” but it did so in a very Jewish way. Evening was the beginning of a new day and was marked by quiet preparation which we call sleep. Morning was the beginning of the active part of the day; when the daylight hours were gone and the activity stopped, the 24 hour day had also ended. Thus evening and morning was a way to indicate and entire 24 hour span of time. By including sitting down, walking, lying down and rising, this verse obviously intends to communicate that we should teach our children all day and at every opportunity.