¹¹ “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. ¹² It is not in heaven, ^[a]that you could say, ‘^(A)Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[b]follow it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, ^[c]that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may ^[d]follow it?’ ¹⁴ On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may ^[e]follow it.

Choose Life

¹⁵ “See, ^(B)I have placed before you today life and ^[f]happiness, and death and ^[g]adversity, ¹⁶ in that I am commanding you today ^(C)to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you ^(D)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 ^(E)you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter ^[h]and take possession of it. ^19 (F)I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, ^(G)the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your ^[i]descendants, ^20 (H)by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and ^(I)by holding close to Him; ^(J)for ^[j]this is your life and the length of your days, ^[k]so that you may live in ^(K)the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

²⁰ “^(A)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the provisions and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Moreover, the Lord provided great and terrible signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household; ²³ He brought us out of there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord commanded us to ^[a]follow all these statutes, ^(B)to fear the Lord our God for our own good always and ^(C)for our survival, as it is today. ²⁵ And ^(D)it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to ^[b]follow all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.