Deuteronomy 30

1 It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind amongst all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

“I have now told you about the ways that Yahweh our God will bless you [if you obey him] and the ways that he will curse you [if you disobey him]. I am saying that you must choose which you want. But when [you choose not to obey his laws], some day you will be living in the countries to which he will scatter you, and you will remember [what I told you].

2 and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,

Then, if you return to Yahweh our God and faithfully [IDM] obey all that I have today commanded you to do,

3 that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

he will be merciful to you. He will bring you back from the nations to which he scattered you, and he will cause you to be prosperous again.

4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back.

Even if you have been scattered to the most distant places on the earth, Yahweh our God will gather you from there and bring you back [to your land].

5 The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers.

He will enable you to possess again the land where your ancestors lived. And he will cause you to be more prosperous and more numerous than you are now.

6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Yahweh our God will change [MET] your inner beings, with the result that you will love him more than you love anything else and want to do only what he wants you to do. And then you will continue to live in that land.

7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.

Yahweh our God will cause your enemies and those who oppressed/persecuted you to experience all the disasters that I have told you about.

8 You shall return and obey the LORD’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today.

You will do what Yahweh wants you to do, as you did before, and you will obey all the commands that I have given to you today.

9 The LORD your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,

Yahweh our God will cause you to be very successful in all that you do. You will have many children [IDM], and a lot of cattle, and you will have abundant crops. He will again be happy to enable you to prosper, just like he was happy to enable your ancestors to prosper.

10 if you will obey the LORD your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

[But he will do those things only] if you do what he has told you to do, and if you obey all his rules and regulations that I have written about [in this scroll], and if you will love him more than you love anything else and want to do only what he wants you to do.

11 For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant.

The commands that I am giving to you today are not very difficult for you [to obey], and they are not [difficult to know].

12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?”

They are not in heaven, with the result that you need to say, ‘(Who will need to go up to heaven for us to bring them [down here to us] in order that we can hear them and obey them?/Someone will need to go up to heaven for us to bring them [down here to us] in order that we can hear them and obey them.)’ [RHQ]

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?”

And they are not on the other side of the sea, with the result that you need to say, ‘(Who will need to cross the sea for us and bring them back to us, in order that we can hear them and obey them?/Someone will need to cross the sea for us and bring them back to us, in order that we can hear them and obey them.)’ [RHQ]

14 But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

[You do not need to do that because] his commands are here with you. You know them [MTY] and you have (memorized them/put them in your minds). So you can [easily] obey them.

15 Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.

So listen! Today I am allowing you to choose between [doing what is] evil and [doing what is] good, between what will enable you to live [for a long time] and [what will cause you] to die [while you are still young].

16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.

[I say again], if you obey the commands of Yahweh our God that I am giving to you today, and if you love him and conduct your lives as he wants you to do, and if you obey all his rules and regulations, you will prosper and become very numerous, and Yahweh our God will bless you in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away and worship other gods, and serve them,

But if you turn away [from Yahweh] and refuse to heed what he says, and if you allow yourselves to be led away to worship other gods,

18 I declare to you today that you will surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it.

I am warning you today that you will [soon] die. You will not live for a long time in the land that you are about to cross the Jordan [River] to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants,

I am requesting that [everyone in] heaven and the earth testify to you, that today I am allowing you to choose whether you [want to] live for a long time or to soon die, whether [you want Yahweh to] bless you or to curse you. So choose to live.

20 to love the LORD your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days, that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

[Choose to] love Yahweh our God, and to obey him [MTY], and to (be faithful to/have a close relationship with) him. If you do that, you and your descendants will live for a long time in the land that Yahweh solemnly promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give to them.”