Deuteronomy 15:5

Bible in Basic English

If only you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to keep all these orders which I give you today.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today.

Hebrew Names Version
if only you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all this mitzvah which I command you this day.

King James Version
Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

Lexham English Bible
If only you listen well to the voice of Yahweh your God by observing diligently all of these commandments that I am commanding you today.

English Standard Version
if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.

New Century Version
He will bless you if you obey the Lord your God completely, but you must be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today.

New English Translation
if you carefully obey him by keeping all these commandments that I am giving you today.

Amplified Bible
if only you will listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all these commandments which I am commanding you today.

New American Standard Bible
if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to follow carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So that thou hearken vnto the voyce of the Lord thy God to obserue and doe all these commandements, which I commande thee this day.

Legacy Standard Bible
if only you listen obediently to the voice of Yahweh your God, to be careful to do all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

Complete Jewish Bible
if only you will listen carefully to what Adonai your God says and take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you today.

Darby Translation
if thou only diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

Easy-to-Read Version
But this will happen only if you obey the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey every command that I have told you today.

George Lamsa Translation
If you hearken to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command you this day.

Good News Translation
if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.

Literal Translation
only if hearing you listen to the voice of Jehovah your God, to take heed to do all this command which I am commanding you today.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
onely yt thou herke vnto the voyce of the LORDE yi God, & kepe all these comaundemetes which I comaunde the this daye,

American Standard Version
if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
So that thou hearken vnto the voyce of the Lord thy God, to obserue and do all these commaundementes which I commaunde thee this day:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

King James Version (1611)
Onely if thou carefully hearken vnto the voice of the Lord thy God, to obserue to doe all these commandedements, which I commaund thee this day.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if ye shall indeed hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep and do all these commandments, as many as I charge thee this day,

English Revised Version
if only thou diligently hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command thee this day.

Berean Standard Bible
if only you obey the LORD your God and are careful to follow all these commandments I am giving you today.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If netheles thou schalt here the vois of thi Lord God, and schalt kepe alle thingis whiche he comaundide, and whiche Y comaunde to dai to thee, he schal blesse thee, as he bihiyte.

Young's Literal Translation
`Only, if thou dost diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this command which I am commanding thee to-day,

Update Bible Version
if only you diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all [of] this commandment which I command you this day.

Webster's Bible Translation
Only if thou shalt carefully hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day.

World English Bible
if only you diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day.

New King James Version
only if you carefully obey the voice of the LORD your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today.

New Living Translation
You will receive this blessing if you are careful to obey all the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today.

New Life Bible
But you must listen and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Be careful to do all the Law which I am telling you today.

New Revised Standard
if only you will obey the Lord your God by diligently observing this entire commandment that I command you today.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
only if thou do hearken unto the voice of Yahweh thy God, - to observe to do - all this commandment which I am commanding time to-day.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he will bless thee, as he hath promised.

Revised Standard Version
if only you will obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all this commandment which I command you this day.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
if only you listen obediently to the voice of the LORD your God, to observe carefully all this commandment which I am commanding you today.

Contextual Overview

¹ At the end of every seven years there is to be a general forgiveness of debt. ² This is how it is to be done: every creditor is to give up his right to whatever he has let his neighbour have; he is not to make his neighbour, his countryman, give it back; because a general forgiveness has been ordered by the Lord. ³ A man of another nation may be forced to make payment of his debt, but if your brother has anything of yours, let it go; ⁴ But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will certainly give you his blessing in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage; ⁵ If only you give ear to the voice of the Lord your God, and take care to keep all these orders which I give you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will give you his blessing as he has said: you will let other nations have the use of your money, but you will not make use of theirs; you will be rulers over a number of nations, but they will not be your rulers. ⁷ If in any of your towns in the land which the Lord your God is giving you, there is a poor man, one of your countrymen, do not let your heart be hard or your hand shut to him; ⁸ But let your hand be open to give him the use of whatever he is in need of. ⁹ And see that there is no evil thought in your heart, moving you to say to yourself, The seventh year, the year of forgiveness is near; and so looking coldly on your poor countryman you give him nothing; and he will make an outcry to the Lord against you, and it will be judged as sin in you. ¹⁰ But it is right for you to give to him, without grief of heart: for because of this, the blessing of the Lord your God will be on all your work and on everything to which you put your hand.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Deuteronomy 4:9, Deuteronomy 11:13-15, Deuteronomy 28:1-15, Leviticus 26:3-14, Joshua 1:7, Psalms 19:11, Isaiah 1:19, Isaiah 1:20, Philippians 1:27

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 26:17 - hearken 1 Kings 11:38 - if thou wilt

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of you a great nation, blessing you and making your name great; and you will be a blessing:

Genesis 13:16
And I will make your children like the dust of the earth, so that if the dust of the earth may be numbered, then will your children be numbered.

Genesis 15:7
And he said to him, I am the Lord, who took you from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land for your heritage.

Genesis 15:8
And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine?

Genesis 16:10
And the angel of the Lord said, Your seed will be greatly increased so that it may not be numbered.

Genesis 22:17
That I will certainly give you my blessing, and your seed will be increased like the stars of heaven and the sand by the seaside; your seed will take the land of those who are against them;

Genesis 26:4
I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and will give them all these lands, and your seed will be a blessing to all the nations of the earth;

Genesis 28:14
Your seed will be like the dust of the earth, covering all the land to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south: you and your seed will be a name of blessing to all the families of the earth.

Exodus 32:13
Have in mind Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you gave your oath, saying, I will make your seed like the stars of heaven in number, and all this land will I give to your seed, as I said, to be their heritage for ever.

Deuteronomy 1:10
The Lord your God has given you increase, and now you are like the stars of heaven in number.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ver. 5 Only if thou carefully hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,.... In his word, and by his prophets; this being the case, there would be no more poor among them, or however they would be so blessed of God, that they would be capable of releasing the debts of the poor, without hurting themselves and their families:

to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day; a phrase often used to put them in mind of the commands of God, and the necessity of keeping them, their temporal happiness depending thereon.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The year of release is no doubt identical with the sabbatical year of the earlier legislation (Exodus 23:10 ff, and Leviticus 25:2 ff), the command of the older legislation being here amplified. The release was probably for the year, not total and final, and had reference only to loans lent because of poverty (compare Deuteronomy 15:4, Deuteronomy 15:7). Yet even so the law was found to be too stringent for the avarice of the people, because it was one of those which the rabbis “made of none effect by their traditions.”

Deuteronomy 15:2

Because it is called the Lord’s release - Render, because proclamation has been made of the Lord’s release. The verb is impersonal, and implies (compare Deuteronomy 31:10) that “the solemnity of the year of release” has been publicly announced.

Deuteronomy 15:3

The foreigner would not be bound by the restriction of the sabbatical year, and therefore would have no claim to its special remissions and privileges. He could earn his usual income in the seventh as in other years, and therefore is not exonerated from liability to discharge a debt anymore in the one than the others.

Deuteronomy 15:4

There is no inconsistency between this and Deuteronomy 15:11. The meaning seems simply to be, “Thou must release the debt for the year, except when there be no poor person concerned, a contingency which may happen, for the Lord shall greatly bless thee.” The general object of these precepts, as also of the year of Jubilee and the laws respecting inheritance, is to prevent the total ruin of a needy person, and his disappearance from the families of Israel by the sale of his patrimony.

Deuteronomy 15:9

literally: “Beware that there be not in thy heart a word which is worthlessness” (compare Deuteronomy 13:13 note).