Deuteronomy 30

1 "And then when all of these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I have set {before you} {and you call them to mind} among the nations there where Yahweh your God [has] scattered you,

2 and you return to Yahweh and you listen to his voice according to all that I am commanding you {today}, [both] you and your children, with all your heart and with all your inner self,

3 and Yahweh your God will restore your fortunes, and he will have compassion [upon] you, and {he will again gather you together} from all the peoples where Yahweh your God scattered you there.

4 "[Even] if {you are outcasts} at the end of the heavens, [even] from there Yahweh your God shall gather you, and from there {he shall bring you back}.

5 And Yahweh your God will bring you to the land that your ancestors had taken possession of, and he will make you successful, and he will make you more numerous than your ancestors.

6 "And Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self {so that you may live}.

7 And Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and {on those who hate you}, [on] {those who harassed you}.

8 And {you will again listen} to the voice of Yahweh, and you will do all his commandments that I [am] commanding you {today}.

9 And Yahweh your God will make you prosperous {in all your undertakings}, and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground {abundantly}, for Yahweh {will again rejoice} over you, [just] as he rejoiced over your ancestors.

10 [He will do this] if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God by keeping his commandment and his statutes written in the scroll of this law [and] if you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your inner self.

11 "For this commandment that I [am] commanding you {today} [is] {not too wonderful for you}, and it [is] not [too] far [from you].

12 It is not in the heavens {so that you might say}, 'Who will go up for us to the heavens and get it for us and cause us to hear it, so that we may do it?'

13 And [it is] {not beyond the sea}, {so that you might say}, 'Who will cross for us to the other side of the sea and take it for us and cause us to hear it, so that we may do it?'

14 But the word is very near you, [even] in your mouth and in your heart, {so that you may do it}.

15 "See, I am setting {before you} {today} life and prosperity and death and disaster;

16 what I am commanding you {today} [is] to love Yahweh your God by going in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the {land where you are going}.

17 However, if your heart turns aside and you [do] not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them,

18 I declare to you {today} that you will certainly perish; {you will not extend your time} on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it.

19 I invoke as a witness against you {today} the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set {before you}, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,

20 by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he [is] your life and the length of your days [in order for you] to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."

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]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [b]. Literally "and you bring [them] back to your heart"
• [c]. Literally "the day"
• [d]. Or "sons"
• [e]. Or "soul"
• [f]. Literally "he will do again and he will gather you together"
• [g]. Literally "he/it shall be outcasting your"
• [h]. Literally "he shall take/fetch you"
• [i]. Or "fathers"
• [j]. Hebrew "of it"
• [k]. Or "fathers"
• [l]. Or "soul"
• [m]. Literally "for the sake of your life"
• [n]. Literally "the haters of you"
• [o]. Literally "who pursued after/persecuted you"
• [p]. Literally "you will return and you will listen"
• [q]. Literally "the day"
• [r]. Literally "in all of the work of your hand"
• [s]. Literally "to/for good"
• [t]. Literally "he will return ... to rejoice"
• [u]. Or "fathers"
• [v]. Or "if you obey/hearken to"
• [w]. Or "soul"
• [x]. Literally "the day"
• [y]. Literally "not [is] wonderful it from you"
• [z]. Literally "to say"
• [aa]. Literally "is not from beyond the sea"
• [ab]. Literally "to say"
• [ac]. Literally "to do it"
• [ad]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [ae]. Literally "the day"
• [af]. Literally "the day"
• [ag]. Or "walking"
• [ah]. Literally "the land where you [are] going there"
• [ai]. Literally "the day"
• [aj]. Literally "you will not make long days"
• [ak]. Literally "the day"
• [al]. Literally "to the face of you"
• [am]. Or "seed"
• [an]. Or "fathers"

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.