Deuteronomy 6:12

12. beware] give heed to thyself or be on guard with respect to thyself, apparently a common phrase from one person to another, Exo_10:28 (J), etc.; addressed to Israel in the editorial passage, Exo_34:12 and frequently in D: Deu_4:9, Deu_8:11 (both followed, as here, by lest thou forget), Deu_12:13; Deu_12:19; Deu_12:30, Deu_15:9, all Sg. and in the Pl. Deu_4:23; Deu_9:16 (cp. Deu_4:15).

which brought thee, etc.] Once more an emphasis on the providence of Israel’s God.

house of bondmen] So in J, Exo_13:3; Exo_13:14; in Deut. only in Sg.: Deu_5:6; Deu_6:12; Deu_7:8; Deu_8:14; Deu_13:5; Deu_13:10; the slaves’ quarter (ergastulum).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Deu 6:12 [Then] beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

Ver. 12. Lest thou forget the Lord.] Should we, with the fed hawk, forget our master? Or being full with God’s benefits, like the moon, be then most removed from the sun, from whom she hath all her light? See Pro 30:8-9. Postquam locupletati sumus, saith Luther, hanc odiosam particulam addimus, Ego feci; We are no sooner grown rich, but we are apt to utter that ugly word, This I may thank myself for.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let not wealth and ease cause thee forget God’s mercies, whereby thou wast delivered out of misery.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 12. Beware lest thou forget the Lord] In earthly prosperity men are apt to forget heavenly things. While the animal senses have every thing they can wish, it is difficult for the soul to urge its way to heaven; the animal man is happy, and the desires of the soul are absorbed in those of the flesh. God knows this well; and therefore, in his love to man, makes comparative poverty and frequent affliction his general lot. Should not every soul therefore magnify God for this lot in life? "Before I was afflicted," says David, "I went astray;" and had it not been for poverty and affliction, as instruments in the hands of God's grace, multitudes of souls now happy in heaven would have been wretched in hell. It is not too much to speak thus far; because we ever see that the rich and the affluent are generally negligent of God and the interests of their souls. It must however be granted that extreme poverty is as injurious to religion as excessive affluence. Hence the wisdom as well as piety of Agur's prayer, Pr 30:7-9: "Give me neither poverty nor riches, lest I be full and deny thee, or lest I be poor and steal," &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Then beware lest thou forget the Lord,.... To love, fear, and worship him, and keep his commands; creature enjoyments being apt to get possession of the heart, and the affections of it; Pro 30:9.

which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; into a land abounding with all the above good things, and therefore under the highest obligations to remember the Lord and his kindnesses, and to serve and glorify him: Exo 20:2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Full. Our Saviour seems to apply this to his disciples, in a spiritual sense, remarking that Moses and the prophets had prepared the way for them. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labours, John iv. 38. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

"House of bondage," as in Exo 13:3. "Not forgetting" is described from a positive point of view, as fearing God, serving Him, and swearing by His name. Fear is placed first, as the fundamental characteristic of the Israelitish worship of God; it was no slavish fear, but simply the holy awe of a sinner before the holy God, which includes love rather than excludes it. "Fearing" is a matter of the heart; "serving," a matter of working and striving; and "swearing in His name," the practical manifestation of the worship of God in word and conversation. It refers not merely to a solemn oath before a judicial court, but rather to asseverations on oath in the ordinary intercourse of life, by which the religious attitude of a man involuntarily reveals itself.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

מבית עבדים — Understand this as the Targum does: from the house of slavery, i.e. a place where ye were slaves (not from the house that belonged to slaves; cf. Rashi on Exodus 20:2).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.