Deuteronomy 5:29

5:29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey¹ all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever.

Deuteronomy 32:29

32:29 I wish that they were wise and could understand this,

and that they could comprehend what will happen to them.”

Psalms 81:13

81:13 If only my people would obey me!²

If only Israel would keep my commands!³

Isaiah 48:18

48:18 If only you had obeyed my⁴ commandments,

prosperity would have flowed to you like a river,⁵

deliverance would have come to you like the waves of the sea.⁶

Ezekiel 18:31-32

18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!⁷ Why should you die, O house of Israel? 18:32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone,⁸ declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Ezekiel 33:11

33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior⁹ and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds!¹⁰ Why should you die, O house of Israel?’

¹tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

²tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).

³tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”

⁴tn Heb “paid attention to” (so NASB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “had listened to.”

⁵tn Heb “like a river your peace would have been.” שָׁלוֹם (shalom) probably refers here to the peace and prosperity which God promised in return for obedience to the covenant.

⁶tn Heb “and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.” צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah) probably refers here to divine deliverance from enemies. See v. 19.

⁷sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

⁸tn Heb “the death of the one dying.”

⁹tn Heb “turn from his way.”

¹⁰tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.