Deuteronomy 30

Returning to the Lord

1 "When all these things happen to you-the blessings and curses I have set before you-and you come to your senses [while you are] in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you,

2 and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing^[a] everything I am giving you today,

3 then He will restore your fortunes,^[b] have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.^[c]

4 Even if your exiles are at the ends of the earth,^[d] He will gather you and bring you back from there.

5 The Lord your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it. He will cause you to prosper and multiply you more than [He did] your fathers.

6 The Lord your God will circumcise your heart^[e] and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and all your soul, so that you will live.

7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies who hate and persecute you.

8 Then you will again obey Him and follow all His commands I am giving you today.

9 The Lord your God will make you prosper abundantly in all the work of your hands with children,^[f] the offspring of your livestock, and your soil's produce. Indeed, the Lord will again delight in your prosperity, as He delighted in that of your fathers,

10 when you obey the Lord your God by keeping His commands and statutes that are written in this book of the law and return to Him with all your heart and all your soul.

Choose Life

11 "This command that I give you today is certainly not too difficult or beyond your reach.

12 It is not in heaven, so that you have to ask, 'Who will go up to heaven, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?'

13 And it is not across the sea, so that you have to ask, 'Who will cross the sea, get it for us, and proclaim it to us so that we may follow it?'

14 But the message is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may follow it.^[g]

15 See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity.

16 For^[h] I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live^[i] and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow down to other gods and worship them,

18 I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan.

19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

20 love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful^[j] to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Deuteronomy 30 Commentary

Chapter 30

Mercies promised to the repentant. (1-10) The commandment manifest. (11-14) Death and life set before them. (15-20)

Verses 1-10 In this chapter is a plain intimation of the mercy God has in store for Israel in the latter days. This passage refers to the prophetic warnings of the last two chapters, which have been mainly fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and in their dispersion to the present day; and there can be no doubt that the prophetic promise contained in these verses yet remain to come to pass. The Jewish nation shall in some future period, perhaps not very distant, be converted to the faith of Christ; and, many think, again settled in the land of Canaan. The language here used is in a great measure absolute promises; not merely a conditional engagement, but declaring an event assuredly to take place. For the Lord himself here engages to "circumcise their hearts;" and when regenerating grace has removed corrupt nature, and Divine love has supplanted the love of sin, they certainly will reflect, repent, return to God, and obey him; and he will rejoice in doing them good. The change that will be wrought upon them will not be only outward, or consisting in mere opinions; it will reach to their souls. It will produce in them an utter hatred of all sin, and a fervent love to God, as their reconciled God in Christ Jesus; they will love him with all their hearts, and with all their soul. They are very far from this state of mind at present, but so were the murderers of the Lord Jesus, on the day of Pentecost; who yet in one hour were converted unto God. So shall it be in the day of God's power; a nation shall be born in a day; the Lord will hasten it in his time. As a conditional promise this passage belongs to all persons and all people, not to Israel only; it assures us that the greatest sinners, if they repent and are converted, shall have their sins pardoned, and be restored to God's favour.

Verses 11-14 The law is not too high for thee. It is not only known afar off; it is not confined to men of learning. It is written in thy books, made plain, so that he who runs may read it. It is in thy mouth, in the tongue commonly used by thee, in which thou mayest hear it read, and talk of it among thy children. It is delivered so that it is level to the understanding of the meanest. This is especially true of the gospel of Christ, to which the apostle applies it. But the word is nigh us, and Christ in that word; so that if we believe with the heart, that the promises of the Messiah are fulfilled in our Lord Jesus, and confess them with our mouth, we then have Christ with us.

Verses 15-20 What could be said more moving, and more likely to make deep and lasting impressions? Every man wishes to obtain life and good, and to escape death and evil; he desires happiness, and dreads misery. So great is the compassion of the Lord, that he has favoured men, by his word, with such a knowledge of good and evil as will make them for ever happy, if it be not their own fault. Let us hear the sum of the whole matter. If they and theirs would love God, and serve him, they should live and be happy. If they or theirs should turn from God, desert his service, and worship other gods, that would certainly be their ruin. There never was, since the fall of man, more than one way to heaven; which is marked out in both Testaments, though not with equal clearness. Moses meant that same way of acceptance, which Paul more plainly described; and Paul's words mean the same obedience, on which Moses more fully treated. In both Testaments the good and right way is brought near, and plainly revealed to us.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit soul according to
• [b]. Or will end your captivity
• [c]. Lv 26:40-45; 1 Kg 8:46-50
• [d]. Lit skies
• [e]. Dt 10:16; Jr 4:4
• [f]. Lit hands in the fruit of your womb
• [g]. Rm 10:6-8
• [h]. LXX reads If you obey the commands of the Lord your God that
• [i]. LXX reads ordinances, then you will live
• [j]. Lit and hold on

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 30

This chapter contains some gracious promises of the conversion of the Jews in the latter day, of their calling things to mind that have befallen them, of their repentance, and the circumcision of their hearts to love the Lord, of the return of them to their own land, and of the great increase of them, and of their enjoyment of plenty of good things, De 30:1-10; in it is an account of the Gospel, or word of faith, which at this time should be brought near to the Jews, and be received by them, De 30:11-14; and for the present Moses desires them to consider what he now set before them, and what would be the consequences of receiving or rejecting it, and so what it would be most proper for them to make choice of, De 30:15-20.