Restoration Promised

¹“So it shall be when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you ^[a]call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, ² and you have returned to the Lord your God and have listened to and obeyed His voice with all your heart and with all your soul, in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your children, ³ then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes [in your return from exile], and have compassion on you, and will gather you together again from all the peoples (nations) where He has scattered you. ⁴ Even if any of your dispersed are at the ends of the earth, the Lord your God will gather you together from there, and from there He will bring you back. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will take possession of it; and He shall make you prosper and multiply—even more than your fathers.

⁶ “And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants [that is, He will remove the desire to sin from your heart], so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live [as a recipient of His blessing]. ⁷ The Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who have persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again listen to and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments which I command you today. ⁹ Then the Lord your God shall make you abundantly prosperous in ^[b]everything that you do, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your land; for the Lord will again delight over you for good, just as He delighted over your fathers, ¹⁰ if you listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (your entire being).

¹¹ “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it ^[c]out of reach. ¹² It is not [a secret hidden] in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ ¹³ Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and bring it to us, so that we may hear it and obey it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.

Choose Life

¹⁵ “Listen closely, I have set before you today life and prosperity (good), and death and adversity (evil); ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk [that is, to live each and every day] in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments (precepts), so that you will live and multiply, and that the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you are entering to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you will not hear and obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not live long in the land which you cross the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfillment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”