Deuteronomy 30:11-20

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.^[a]

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

16 For^[b] 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^[c] 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^[d] 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 30:11-20 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Rm 10:6-8
• [b]. LXX reads If you obey the commands of the Lord your God that
• [c]. LXX reads ordinances, then you will live
• [d]. Lit and hold on