Deuteronomy 30:19

Literal Standard Version

I have caused the heavens and the earth to testify against you today—I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the reviling, and you have fixed on life, so that you live, you and your seed,

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

Hebrew Names Version
I call heaven and eretz to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed;

King James Version
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Lexham English Bible
I invoke as a witness against you today the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,

English Standard Version
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

New Century Version
Today I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses. I am offering you life or death, blessings or curses. Now, choose life! Then you and your children may live.

New English Translation
Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!

Amplified Bible
"I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

New American Standard Bible
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

Geneva Bible (1587)
I call heauen and earth to recorde this day against you, that I haue set before you life & death, blessing and cursing. therefore chuse life, that both thou and thy seede may liue,

Legacy Standard Bible
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your seed,

Contemporary English Version
Right now I call the sky and the earth to be witnesses that I am offering you this choice. Will you choose for the Lord to make you prosperous and give you a long life? Or will he put you under a curse and kill you? Choose life!

Complete Jewish Bible
"I call on heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have presented you with life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore, choose life, so that you will live, you and your descendants,

Darby Translation
I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you: life and death have I set before you, blessing and cursing: choose then life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed,

Easy-to-Read Version
"Today I am giving you a choice of two ways. And I ask heaven and earth to be witnesses of your choice. You can choose life or death. The first choice will bring a blessing. The other choice will bring a curse. So choose life! Then you and your children will live.

George Lamsa Translation
I call heaven and earth to bear witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursings; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

Good News Translation
I am now giving you the choice between life and death, between God's blessing and God's curse, and I call heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Choose life.

Literal Translation
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 seed,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I take heauen and earth this daye to recorde ouer you: I haue layed before you life and death, blessinge and cursinge, that thou mayest chose life, and that thou and thy sede maye lyue,

American Standard Version
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;

Bible in Basic English
Let heaven and earth be my witnesses against you this day that I have put before you life and death, a blessing and a curse: so take life for yourselves and for your seed:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I call heauen and earth to recorde this day agaynst you, that I haue set before you, lyfe and death, blessyng and cursyng: Therfore choose lyfe, that both thou and thy seede may lyue:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;

King James Version (1611)
I call heauen and earth to record this day against you, that I haue set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may liue:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I call both heaven and earth to witness this day against you, I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: choose thou life, that thou and thy seed may live;

English Revised Version
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed:

Berean Standard Bible
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. So choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y clepe to day heuene and erthe witnesses, that is, aungels and men, that Y haue set forth to you lijf and deeth, good and yuel, blessyng and cursyng; therfor chese thou lijf, that bothe thou lyue and thi seed,

Young's Literal Translation
`I have caused to testify against you to-day the heavens and the earth; life and death I have set before thee, the blessing and the reviling; and thou hast fixed on life, so that thou dost live, thou and thy seed,

Update Bible Version
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed;

Webster's Bible Translation
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, [that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

World English Bible
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed;

New King James Version
I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;

New Living Translation
"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 you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

New Life Bible
I call heaven and earth to speak against you today. I have put in front of you life and death, the good and the curse. So choose life so you and your children after you may live.

New Revised Standard
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I call to witness against you to-day, the heavens and the earth, that life and death, have I set before thee, the blessing and the curse, - therefore shouldest thou choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;

Douay-Rheims Bible
I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Revised Standard Version
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live,

THE MESSAGE
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live. And love God , your God, listening obediently to him, firmly embracing him. Oh yes, he is life itself, a long life settled on the soil that God , your God, promised to give your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,

Contextual Overview

¹⁵See, today I have set before you life and good, and death and evil, ¹⁶in that today I am commanding you to love your God YHWH, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, and His statutes, and His judgments; and you have lived and multiplied, and your God YHWH has blessed you in the land to where you are going in to possess it. ¹⁷And if your heart turns, and you do not listen, and have been drawn away, and have bowed yourself to other gods and served them, ¹⁸I have declared to you this day that you certainly perish, you do not prolong days on the ground which you are passing over the Jordan to go in there to possess it. ¹⁹I have caused the heavens and the earth to testify against you today—I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the reviling, and you have fixed on life, so that you live, you and your seed,²⁰to love your God YHWH, to listen to His voice, and to cleave to Him (for He [is] your life and the length of your days), to dwell on the ground which YHWH has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I call heaven: Deuteronomy 4:26, Deuteronomy 31:28, Deuteronomy 32:1, Isaiah 1:2, Jeremiah 2:12, Jeremiah 2:13, Jeremiah 22:29, Jeremiah 22:30, Micah 6:1, Micah 6:2, 1 Timothy 5:21

that I have: Deuteronomy 30:15, Deuteronomy 11:26

choose life: Joshua 24:15-22, Psalms 119:30, Psalms 119:111, Psalms 119:173, Proverbs 1:29, Proverbs 8:36, Isaiah 56:4, Luke 10:42

that both thou: Jeremiah 32:39, Acts 2:39

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 8:19 - I testify against Deuteronomy 32:47 - General Joshua 24:27 - General Psalms 50:4 - call Psalms 119:21 - cursed Ecclesiastes 7:12 - the excellency Isaiah 24:6 - hath Jeremiah 6:19 - O earth Jeremiah 21:8 - I set Ezekiel 18:31 - for why Amos 3:13 - and testify Acts 7:38 - lively

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,.... Either, literally understood, the heavens above him, and the earth on which he stood, those inanimate bodies, which are frequently called upon as witnesses to matters of moment and importance; see Deuteronomy 4:26; or figuratively, the inhabitants of both, angels and men:

[that] I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; had plainly told them in express words what would be the consequence of obedience and disobedience to the law of God; long life, and the blessings of it in the land of Canaan, to those that obey it; death, by various means, and dreadful curses, to those that disobey it; of which see at large Deuteronomy 28:16;

therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live; that is, prefer obedience to the law, and choose to perform that, the consequence of which is life; that they and their posterity might live comfortably and happily, quietly and safely, and constantly, even to the latest ages, in the land of Canaan.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ignorance of the requirements of the law cannot be pleaded Deuteronomy 30:10-14; hence, Deuteronomy 30:15-20 life and death, good and evil, are solemnly set before the people for their own choice; and an earnest exhortation to choose the better part concludes the address.

Deuteronomy 30:11-14. “The righteousness which is of faith” is really and truly described in these words of the Law; and, under Paul’s guidance (see marginal references) we affirm was intended so to be. For the simplicity and accessibility which Moses here attributes to the Law of God neither is nor can be experimentally found in it except through the medium of faith; even though outwardly and in the letter that Law be written out for us so “that he may run that readeth,” and be set forth in its duties and its sanctions as plainly as it was before the Jews by Moses. The seeming ease of the commandment, and yet its real impossibility to the natural man, form part of the qualifications of the Law to be our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.

Deuteronomy 30:11

Not hidden from thee - Rather, not too hard for thee, as in Deuteronomy 17:8.

Neither is it far off - Compare Luke 17:21.

Deuteronomy 30:13

The paraphrase of this verse in the Jerusalem Targum is noteworthy, and should be compared with Paul’s rendering in Romans 10:7 : “Neither is the law beyond the great sea, that thou shouldest say, Oh that we had one like Jonah the prophet who could descend into the depths of the sea and bring it to us!”

Deuteronomy 30:14

In thy mouth, and in, thy heart - Compare Deuteronomy 6:6; Deuteronomy 11:18-20.

Deuteronomy 30:20

That thou mayest love the Lord - Compare Deuteronomy 6:5. Love stands first as the essential and only source of obedience.

He is thy life - Or, “that” (i. e., “to love the Lord”) “is thy life;” i. e., the condition of thy life and of its prolongation in the promised land. Compare Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 32:47.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Deuteronomy 30:19. See the note on the preceding verse. Deuteronomy 30:19- :