Deuteronomy 30:17

THE MESSAGE

But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow in worship to other gods and serve them,

Hebrew Names Version
But if your heart turn away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

King James Version
But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

Lexham English Bible
However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them,

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

New Century Version
But if you turn away from the Lord and do not obey him, if you are led to bow and serve other gods,

New English Translation
However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,

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

New American Standard Bible
"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,

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if thine heart turne away, so that thou wilt not obey, but shalt be seduced and worship other gods, and serue them,

Legacy Standard Bible
But if your heart turns away and you will not listen, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

Complete Jewish Bible
But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you are drawn away to prostrate yourselves before other gods and serve them;

Darby Translation
But if thy heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and thou shalt bow down to other gods and serve them;

Easy-to-Read Version
But if you turn away from your God and refuse to listen, if you are led away to worship and serve other gods,

George Lamsa Translation
But if your heart turns away, so that you will not hear, but shall go astray, and worship other gods and serve them;

Good News Translation
But if you disobey and refuse to listen, and are led away to worship other gods,

Literal Translation
But if you turn away your heart, and you do not listen, and are drawn on, even you will bow down to other gods, and serve them;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf thou turnest awaye thine hert, so that thou wilt not heare, but fall a waye, to worshipe other goddes and to serue them,

American Standard Version
But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

Bible in Basic English
But if your heart is turned away and your ear is shut, and you go after those who would make you servants and worshippers of other gods:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
But and yf thine heart turne away, so that thou wylt not heare, but shalt go astray and worship straunge gods, and serue them:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But if thy heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

King James Version (1611)
But if thine heart turne away, so that thou wilt not heare, but shalt bee drawen away, and worship other gods and serue them:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if thy heart change, and thou wilt not hearken, and thou shalt go astray and worship other gods, and serve them,

English Revised Version
But if thine heart turn away, and thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

Berean Standard Bible
But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But if thin herte is turned awey, and thou nylt here, and thou art disseyued bi errour, and worschipist alien goddis,

Young's Literal Translation
`And if thy heart doth turn, and thou dost not hearken, and hast been driven away, and hast bowed thyself to other gods, and served them,

Update Bible Version
But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

Webster's Bible Translation
But if thy heart shall turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

World English Bible
But if your heart turn away, and you will not hear, but shall be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

New King James Version
But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,

New Living Translation
"But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,

New Life Bible
But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but leave to worship other gods and serve them,

New Revised Standard
But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if thy heart shall turn away, and thou wilt, not hearken, - but shalt be drawn away, and shalt bow thyself down to other gods and serve them,

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if thy heart be turned away, so that thou wilt not hear, and being deceived with error thou adore strange gods, and serve them:

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

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them,

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ Look at what I've done for you today: I've placed in front of you Life and Good Death and Evil. ¹⁶ And I command you today: Love God , your God. Walk in his ways. Keep his commandments, regulations, and rules so that you will live, really live, live exuberantly, blessed by God , your God, in the land you are about to enter and possess. ¹⁷But I warn you: If you have a change of heart, refuse to listen obediently, and willfully go off to serve and worship other gods, you will most certainly die. You won't last long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if thine: Deuteronomy 29:18-28, 1 Samuel 12:25, John 3:19-21

heart: Deuteronomy 17:17, 1 Kings 11:2, Proverbs 1:32, Proverbs 14:14, 2 Timothy 4:4, Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 12:25

Reciprocal: Numbers 32:15 - if ye turn Deuteronomy 11:16 - and serve Deuteronomy 11:17 - the Lord's Joshua 22:15 - General Judges 6:13 - why then 2 Kings 22:16 - all the words 2 Chronicles 34:21 - great Ezra 9:7 - for our iniquities Jeremiah 11:8 - therefore Jeremiah 16:13 - will I Daniel 9:11 - the curse Daniel 9:27 - that determined Malachi 2:2 - ye will not hear

Cross-References

Genesis 30:6
Rachel said, "God took my side and vindicated me. He listened to me and gave me a son." She named him Dan (Vindication). Rachel's maid Bilhah became pregnant again and gave Jacob a second son. Rachel said, "I've been in an all-out fight with my sister—and I've won." So she named him Naphtali (Fight).

Genesis 30:22
And then God remembered Rachel. God listened to her and opened her womb. She became pregnant and had a son. She said, "God has taken away my humiliation." She named him Joseph (Add), praying, "May God add yet another son to me."

Genesis 30:27
Laban said, "If you please, I have learned through divine inquiry that God has blessed me because of you." He went on, "So name your wages. I'll pay you."

Exodus 3:7
God said, "I've taken a good, long look at the affliction of my people in Egypt. I've heard their cries for deliverance from their slave masters; I know all about their pain. And now I have come down to help them, pry them loose from the grip of Egypt, get them out of that country and bring them to a good land with wide-open spaces, a land lush with milk and honey, the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

1 Samuel 1:20
Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, "I asked God for him."

Luke 1:13
But the angel reassured him, "Don't fear, Zachariah. Your prayer has been heard. Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John. You're going to leap like a gazelle for joy, and not only you—many will delight in his birth. He'll achieve great stature with God. "He'll drink neither wine nor beer. He'll be filled with the Holy Spirit from the moment he leaves his mother's womb. He will turn many sons and daughters of Israel back to their God. He will herald God's arrival in the style and strength of Elijah, soften the hearts of parents to children, and kindle devout understanding among hardened skeptics—he'll get the people ready for God." Zachariah said to the angel, "Do you expect me to believe this? I'm an old man and my wife is an old woman." But the angel said, "I am Gabriel, the sentinel of God, sent especially to bring you this glad news. But because you won't believe me, you'll be unable to say a word until the day of your son's birth. Every word I've spoken to you will come true on time—God's time." Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn't speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people. When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home. It wasn't long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. "So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!" she said. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to the Galilean village of Nazareth to a virgin engaged to be married to a man descended from David. His name was Joseph, and the virgin's name, Mary. Upon entering, Gabriel greeted her: Good morning! You're beautiful with God's beauty, Beautiful inside and out! God be with you. She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that. But the angel assured her, "Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus. He will be great, be called ‘Son of the Highest.' The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; He will rule Jacob's house forever— no end, ever, to his kingdom." Mary said to the angel, "But how? I've never slept with a man." The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, the power of the Highest hover over you; Therefore, the child you bring to birth will be called Holy, Son of God. "And did you know that your cousin Elizabeth conceived a son, old as she is? Everyone called her barren, and here she is six months pregnant! Nothing, you see, is impossible with God." And Mary said, Yes, I see it all now: I'm the Lord's maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say. Then the angel left her. Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped. She was filled with the Holy Spirit, and sang out exuberantly, You're so blessed among women, and the babe in your womb, also blessed! And why am I so blessed that the mother of my Lord visits me? The moment the sound of your greeting entered my ears, The babe in my womb skipped like a lamb for sheer joy. Blessed woman, who believed what God said, believed every word would come true! And Mary said, I'm bursting with God-news; I'm dancing the song of my Savior God. God took one good look at me, and look what happened— I'm the most fortunate woman on earth! What God has done for me will never be forgotten, the God whose very name is holy, set apart from all others. His mercy flows in wave after wave on those who are in awe before him. He bared his arm and showed his strength, scattered the bluffing braggarts. He knocked tyrants off their high horses, pulled victims out of the mud. The starving poor sat down to a banquet; the callous rich were left out in the cold. He embraced his chosen child, Israel; he remembered and piled on the mercies, piled them high. It's exactly what he promised, beginning with Abraham and right up to now. Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then went back to her own home. When Elizabeth was full-term in her pregnancy, she bore a son. Her neighbors and relatives, seeing that God had overwhelmed her with mercy, celebrated with her. On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child and were calling him Zachariah after his father. But his mother intervened: "No. He is to be called John." "But," they said, "no one in your family is named that." They used sign language to ask Zachariah what he wanted him named. Asking for a tablet, Zachariah wrote, "His name is to be John." That took everyone by surprise. Surprise followed surprise—Zachariah's mouth was now open, his tongue loose, and he was talking, praising God! A deep, reverential fear settled over the neighborhood, and in all that Judean hill country people talked about nothing else. Everyone who heard about it took it to heart, wondering, "What will become of this child? Clearly, God has his hand in this." Then Zachariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he came and set his people free. He set the power of salvation in the center of our lives, and in the very house of David his servant, Just as he promised long ago through the preaching of his holy prophets: Deliverance from our enemies and every hateful hand; Mercy to our fathers, as he remembers to do what he said he'd do, What he swore to our father Abraham— a clean rescue from the enemy camp, So we can worship him without a care in the world, made holy before him as long as we live. And you, my child, "Prophet of the Highest," will go ahead of the Master to prepare his ways, Present the offer of salvation to his people, the forgiveness of their sins. Through the heartfelt mercies of our God, God's Sunrise will break in upon us, Shining on those in the darkness, those sitting in the shadow of death, Then showing us the way, one foot at a time, down the path of peace. The child grew up, healthy and spirited. He lived out in the desert until the day he made his prophetic debut in Israel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

But if thine heart turn away,.... From the true God, and the right worship of him, and from his commands, statutes, and judgments:

so that thou wilt not hear; the voice of the Lord and obey it, or hearken to his laws, and do them:

but shalt be drawn away; by an evil heart, and by the ill examples of others:

and worship other gods and serve them; the gods of the Gentiles, the idols of the people, besides the one living and true God, the God of Israel.

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.