Choose Life

¹⁵ “See, ^(A)I have placed before you today life and ^[a]happiness, and death and ^[b]adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today ^(B)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(C)may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that ^(D)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[c]and take possession of it. ^19 (E)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(F)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[d]descendants, ^20 (G)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(H)by holding close to Him; ^(I)for ^[e]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[f]so that you may live in ^(J)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

¹⁷ “Do not presume that I came to abolish the ^(A)Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For truly I say to you, ^(B)until heaven and earth pass away, not ^[a]the smallest letter or stroke of a letter shall pass from the Law, until all is accomplished! ¹⁹ Therefore, whoever nullifies one of the least of these commandments, and teaches ^[b]others to do the same, shall be called least ^(C)in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever ^[c]keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ “For I say to you that unless your ^(D)righteousness far surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.