Deuteronomy 30:1-32:28

New International Version

Prosperity After Turning to the Lord

30 When all these blessings and curses^(A) I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations,^(B) ²and when you and your children return^(C) to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart^(D) and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, ³then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes^[a]^(E) and have compassion^(F) on you and gather^(G) you again from all the nations where he scattered^(H) you.^(I) ⁴Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens,^(J) from there the Lord your God will gather^(K) you and bring you back.^(L) ⁵He will bring^(M) you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous^(N) than your ancestors. ⁶The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,^(O) so that you may love^(P) him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. ⁷The Lord your God will put all these curses^(Q) on your enemies who hate and persecute you.^(R) ⁸You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. ⁹Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.^(S) The Lord will again delight^(T) in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, ¹⁰if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law^(U) and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.^(V)

The Offer of Life or Death

¹¹Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.^(W) ¹²It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven^(X) to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^(Y) ¹³Nor is it beyond the sea,^(Z) so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^(AA) ¹⁴No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.^(AB)

¹⁵See, I set before you today life^(AC) and prosperity,^(AD) death^(AE) and destruction.^(AF) ¹⁶For I command you today to love^(AG) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live^(AH) and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.^(AI) You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you^(AJ) that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.^(AK) Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰and that you may love^(AL) the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life,^(AM) and he will give^(AN) you many years in the land^(AO) he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 Then Moses went out and spoke these words to all Israel: ²“I am now a hundred and twenty years old^(AP) and I am no longer able to lead you.^(AQ) The Lord has said to me, ‘You shall not cross the Jordan.’^(AR) ³The Lord your God himself will cross^(AS) over ahead of you.^(AT) He will destroy these nations^(AU) before you, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua also will cross^(AV) over ahead of you, as the Lord said. ⁴And the Lord will do to them what he did to Sihon and Og,^(AW) the kings of the Amorites, whom he destroyed along with their land. ⁵The Lord will deliver^(AX) them to you, and you must do to them all that I have commanded you. ⁶Be strong and courageous.^(AY) Do not be afraid or terrified^(AZ) because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you;^(BA) he will never leave you^(BB) nor forsake^(BC) you.”

⁷Then Moses summoned Joshua and said^(BD) to him in the presence of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them,^(BE) and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. ⁸The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;^(BF) he will never leave you nor forsake you.^(BG) Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Public Reading of the Law

⁹So Moses wrote^(BH) down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carried^(BI) the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts,^(BJ) during the Festival of Tabernacles,^(BK) ¹¹when all Israel comes to appear^(BL) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose,^(BM) you shall read this law^(BN) before them in their hearing. ¹²Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn^(BO) to fear^(BP) the Lord your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. ¹³Their children,^(BQ) who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Israel’s Rebellion Predicted

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, “Now the day of your death^(BR) is near. Call Joshua^(BS) and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, where I will commission him.^(BT)” So Moses and Joshua came and presented themselves at the tent of meeting.^(BU)

¹⁵Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the cloud stood over the entrance to the tent.^(BV) ¹⁶And the Lord said to Moses: “You are going to rest with your ancestors,^(BW) and these people will soon prostitute^(BX) themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake^(BY) me and break the covenant I made with them. ¹⁷And in that day I will become angry^(BZ) with them and forsake^(CA) them; I will hide^(CB) my face^(CC) from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters^(CD) and calamities will come on them, and in that day they will ask, ‘Have not these disasters come on us because our God is not with us?’^(CE) ¹⁸And I will certainly hide my face in that day because of all their wickedness in turning to other gods.

¹⁹“Now write^(CF) down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness^(CG) for me against them. ²⁰When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors,^(CH) and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods^(CI) and worship them,^(CJ) rejecting me and breaking my covenant.^(CK) ²¹And when many disasters and calamities come on them,^(CL) this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do,^(CM) even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” ²²So Moses wrote^(CN) down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.

²³The Lord gave this command^(CO) to Joshua son of Nun: “Be strong and courageous,^(CP) for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you.”

²⁴After Moses finished writing^(CQ) in a book the words of this law^(CR) from beginning to end, ²⁵he gave this command to the Levites who carried^(CS) the ark of the covenant of the Lord: ²⁶“Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. There it will remain as a witness against you.^(CT) ²⁷For I know how rebellious^(CU) and stiff-necked^(CV) you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die! ²⁸Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officials, so that I can speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to testify against them.^(CW) ²⁹For I know that after my death you are sure to become utterly corrupt^(CX) and to turn from the way I have commanded you. In days to come, disaster^(CY) will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel:

32 Listen,^(CZ) you heavens,^(DA) and I will speak;
    hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.^(DB)
²Let my teaching fall like rain^(DC)
    and my words descend like dew,^(DD)
like showers^(DE) on new grass,
    like abundant rain on tender plants.

³I will proclaim^(DF) the name of the Lord.^(DG)
    Oh, praise the greatness^(DH) of our God!
⁴He is the Rock,^(DI) his works are perfect,^(DJ)
    and all his ways are just.
A faithful God^(DK) who does no wrong,
    upright^(DL) and just is he.^(DM)

⁵They are corrupt and not his children;
    to their shame they are a warped and crooked generation.^(DN)
⁶Is this the way you repay^(DO) the Lord,
    you foolish^(DP) and unwise people?^(DQ)
Is he not your Father,^(DR) your Creator,^[b]
    who made you and formed you?^(DS)

⁷Remember the days of old;^(DT)
    consider the generations long past.^(DU)
Ask your father and he will tell you,
    your elders, and they will explain to you.^(DV)
⁸When the Most High^(DW) gave the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided all mankind,^(DX)
he set up boundaries^(DY) for the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of Israel.^[c]^(DZ)
⁹For the Lord’s portion^(EA) is his people,
    Jacob his allotted inheritance.^(EB)

¹⁰In a desert^(EC) land he found him,
    in a barren and howling waste.^(ED)
He shielded^(EE) him and cared for him;
    he guarded him as the apple of his eye,^(EF)
¹¹like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,^(EG)
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft.^(EH)
¹²The Lord alone led^(EI) him;^(EJ)
    no foreign god was with him.^(EK)

¹³He made him ride on the heights^(EL) of the land
    and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,^(EM)
    and with oil^(EN) from the flinty crag,
¹⁴with curds and milk from herd and flock
    and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan^(EO)
    and the finest kernels of wheat.^(EP)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.^(EQ)

¹⁵Jeshurun^[d]^(ER) grew fat^(ES) and kicked;
    filled with food, they became heavy and sleek.
They abandoned^(ET) the God who made them
    and rejected the Rock^(EU) their Savior.
¹⁶They made him jealous^(EV) with their foreign gods
    and angered^(EW) him with their detestable idols.
¹⁷They sacrificed^(EX) to false gods,^(EY) which are not God—
    gods they had not known,^(EZ)
    gods that recently appeared,^(FA)
    gods your ancestors did not fear.
¹⁸You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
    you forgot^(FB) the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹The Lord saw this and rejected them^(FC)
    because he was angered by his sons and daughters.^(FD)
²⁰“I will hide my face^(FE) from them,” he said,
    “and see what their end will be;
for they are a perverse generation,^(FF)
    children who are unfaithful.^(FG)
²¹They made me jealous^(FH) by what is no god
    and angered me with their worthless idols.^(FI)
I will make them envious by those who are not a people;
    I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.^(FJ)
²²For a fire will be kindled by my wrath,^(FK)
    one that burns down to the realm of the dead below.^(FL)
It will devour^(FM) the earth and its harvests^(FN)
    and set afire the foundations of the mountains.^(FO)

²³“I will heap calamities^(FP) on them
    and spend my arrows^(FQ) against them.
²⁴I will send wasting famine^(FR) against them,
    consuming pestilence^(FS) and deadly plague;^(FT)
I will send against them the fangs of wild beasts,^(FU)
    the venom of vipers^(FV) that glide in the dust.^(FW)
²⁵In the street the sword will make them childless;
    in their homes terror^(FX) will reign.^(FY)
The young men and young women will perish,
    the infants and those with gray hair.^(FZ)
²⁶I said I would scatter^(GA) them
    and erase their name from human memory,^(GB)
²⁷but I dreaded the taunt of the enemy,
    lest the adversary misunderstand^(GC)
and say, ‘Our hand has triumphed;
    the Lord has not done all this.’”^(GD)

²⁸They are a nation without sense,
there is no discernment^(GE) in them.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 30:3 Or will bring you back from captivity
Deuteronomy 32:6 Or Father, who bought you
Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God
Deuteronomy 32:15 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.