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Deuteronomy 30

1“When all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you take them to heart among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2and return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice, you and your children, with all your heart and all your life, according to everything I am commanding you today, 3then Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you. He will again gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 4Even if your outcasts are at the farthest edge of the heavens, Yahweh your God will gather you from there and take you from there. 5Yahweh your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good and make you more numerous than your fathers.

6“Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your life, so that you may live. 7Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you and have pursued you. 8You will again obey the voice of Yahweh and carry out all his commands that I am commanding you today. 9Yahweh your God will give you abundant good in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground. For Yahweh will again delight over you for good, as he delighted over your fathers, 10when you obey the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commands and statutes written in this scroll of instruction, when you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your life.

11“This command that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or far away. 12It is not in heaven, so that you must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us, get it for us, and make us hear it, so that we may do it?’ 13Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you must say, ‘Who will cross to the other side of the sea for us, get it for us, and make us hear it, so that we may do it?’ 14The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.

15“Look: today I have set before you life and good, death and disaster. 16I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and Yahweh your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, and you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not live long on the ground you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving Yahweh your God, listening to his voice, and holding fast to him. For he is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live on the ground Yahweh swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Translation notes 5

30:1–3 — Return and restoration. The Hebrew repeatedly uses the word for returning: Israel returns to Yahweh, and Yahweh restores and gathers Israel. “Restore your fortunes” is a traditional expression also understood as bringing back captives.

30:6 — Circumcise your heart. The bodily image describes a change enabling wholehearted love and obedience. It is retained rather than replaced with an explanation. Here Yahweh performs what 10:16 calls Israel to do.

30:11–14 — Near enough to do. The command is presented as accessible, already in the people’s mouth and heart. The text concerns hearing and doing this instruction; later uses of these lines do not replace that setting.

30:15–20 — Life and death. The choice concerns covenant allegiance, prosperity, survival, and continued life in the land. The Hebrew statements about life and death have not been expanded into an explicit description of the afterlife.

30:16 — The sentence. Some Greek witnesses add a clause about obeying Yahweh’s commands before the wording represented here. The translation follows the shorter Hebrew wording, while making its connection to the choice in verse 15 readable in English.