Deuteronomy30
World English Bible · Public Domain
1It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you,
2and return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.
4If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back.
5Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers.
6Yahweh 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 soul, that you may live.
7Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8You shall return and obey Yahweh’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today.
9Yahweh your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,
10if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant.
12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?”
13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?”
14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.
16For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.
17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them,
18I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it.
19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,
20to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 30.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Mercies promised to the repentant. (1–10). The commandment manifest. (11–14). Death and life set before them. (15–20).
vv1-10
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.
vv11-14
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.
vv15-20
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.
Key Words
כֹּל: properly, the whole; hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a plural sense)
אֵלֶּה: these or those
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
בְּרָכָה: benediction; by implication prosperity
קְלָלָה: vilification
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
Cross References
Deuteronomy 30Paul explicitly applies the 'not in heaven' and 'very nigh' language to the Gospel of Christ.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Paul quotes this verse directly to describe the word of faith which is in the mouth and heart.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
Connected to the promised future gathering and spiritual restoration of all Israel through the Deliverer.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The earlier command to circumcise one's own heart is here promised as a sovereign work of God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Nehemiah explicitly quotes this promise of gathering those scattered to the uttermost parts of heaven.
Supported by JFB
Identifies the circumcision of the heart as the spiritual circumcision made without hands by Christ.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Echoes that God has not spoken in secret or obscure enigmas, but clearly and understandably.
Supported by John Calvin
Christ's work gathers together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel promise of the New Covenant where God writes His law directly onto human hearts.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel prophetic promise of spiritual regeneration, replacing a stony heart with a heart of flesh.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Contrasts God's rejoicing over them to destroy them with His renewed rejoicing over them for good.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The foundational presentation of the blessing and the curse that Moses set before the people.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Solomon's temple prayer directly anticipates this sequence: sin, exile, calling to mind, and repentance.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Paul adapts the 'who shall go up' concept to 'who shall descend into the deep'.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Earlier promise that they would find God in exile if they searched with all their heart.
Joshua practically applies Moses' charge, demanding the people actively choose whom they will serve.