Text -- Deuteronomy 30:2-20 (NET)

30:2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, 30:3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you. 30:4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. 30:5 Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors. 30:6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 30:7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 30:8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today. 30:9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors, 30:10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being.

Exhortation to Covenant Obedience

30:11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote. 30:12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, “Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 30:13 And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, “Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?” 30:14 For the thing is very near you– it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 30:15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 30:16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are about to possess. 30:17 However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 30:18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. 30:19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 30:20 I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Deu 30:2

¹ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “children.”

² tn Or “heart and soul” (also in vv. 6, 10).

³ tn Heb “according to all.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:3

¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

NET Notes: Deu 30:4

¹ tn Heb “are at the farthest edge of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

NET Notes: Deu 30:5

¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

² tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).

NET Notes: Deu 30:6

¹ tn Heb “circumcise” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “will give you and your descendents obedient hearts.” See note on the word “cleanse” in Deut 10:16.

² tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).

³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

NET Notes: Deu 30:8

¹ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I now enjoin on you.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:9

¹ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

² tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

³ tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:10

¹ tn Heb “to the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

NET Notes: Deu 30:11

¹ tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:14

¹ tn Heb “heart.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:16

¹ tc A number of LXX mss insert before this verse, “if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God,” thus translating אֲשֶׁר (’asher) as “which” and the rest as “I am commanding you today, to love,” etc., “then you will live,” etc.

² tn Heb “which you are going there to possess it.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Deu 30:17

¹ tn Heb “your heart,” as a metonymy for the person.

NET Notes: Deu 30:18

¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “certainly.”

² tn Heb “to go there to possess it.”

NET Notes: Deu 30:20

¹ tn The words “I also call on you” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text vv. 19-20 are one long sentence, which the translation divides into two.

² tn Heb “he is your life and the length of your days to live.”