Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 329
30:1-19
D e u teronom y
317
“In the future, when you experience all these blessings and curses I have
listed for you, and when you are living among the nations to which the
Lord your God has exiled you, take to heart all these instructions. If at
that time you and your children return to the Lord your God, and if you
obey with all your heart and all your soul all the commands I have given
you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes. He will
have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has
scattered you. Even though you are banished to the ends of the earth, the
Lord your God will gather you from there and bring you back again. The
Lord your God will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. Then he will make you even
more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors!
“The Lord your God will change your heart and the hearts of all your
descendants, so that you will love him with all your heart and soul and
so you may live! The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your
enemies and on those who hate and persecute you. Then you will again
obey the Lord and keep all his commands that I am giving you today.
“The Lord your God will then make you successful in everything you
do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and he will
cause your fields to produce abundant harvests, for the Lord will again
delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. The Lord your
God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and
decrees written in this Book of Instruction, and if you turn to the Lord
your God with all your heart and soul.
“This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, and
it is not beyond your reach. It is not kept in heaven, so distant that you
must ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven and bring it down so we can hear it
and obey?’ It is not kept beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask,
‘Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear it and obey?’ No,
the message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so
that you can obey it.
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death,
between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the
Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by
walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord
your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
“But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are
drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that
you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the
land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between
blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice
