Deuteronomy 30:11-20

The Choice of Life and Death

11 “For this commandment that I command you today ¹is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.

12 ²It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ’

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it? ’

14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

15 “See, ³I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

16 If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God^[a] that I command you today, ⁴by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, ^[b] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

17 But if ⁵your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,

18 ⁶I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ⁷blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ⁸and holding fast to him, for ⁹he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ¹⁰the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. ”

Deuteronomy 30:11-20 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References

• 1. 30:11 [Isa. 45:19; 48:16]
• 2. 30:12 [Rom. 10:6-8]
• 3. 30:15 [ch. 11:26; 32:47]
• 4. 30:16 ver. 6; See ch. 6:5
• 5. 30:17 ch. 29:18
• 6. 30:18 See ch. 4:26
• 7. 30:19 ver. 1
• 8. 30:20 See ch. 10:20
• 9. 30:20 Ps. 27:1; 66:9; John 11:25
• 10. 30:20 See ch. 1:8

Footnotes

• [a] 30:16 Septuagint; Hebrew lacks 'If you obey the commandments of the 'Lord'your God'
• [b] 30:16 Or 'his just decrees'