Deuteronomy 30

EasyEnglish Bible

God will bless his people again

30 I have told you about the ways that God may bless you and the ways that he may curse you. If you do not obey the Lord your God, he will send you away to live in many foreign countries. When that happens, you will think about what I have said. ² Then you and your children may decide to turn back to the Lord. You may choose to obey him completely in everything that you think and in everything that you do. That is what I am commanding you to do today. ³ If you do that, the Lord your God will bring you back home and he will forgive you. He will turn to help you again. He will bring you back from the countries where he sent you to live. ⁴ He will bring back even those of you who live in countries that are very far away. You will all come back to live together again. ⁵ He will bring you back to the land that belonged to your ancestors. It will belong to you as your home. He will help you even more than he helped your ancestors. He will make you more in number than your ancestors were. ⁶ The Lord your God will change you so that you want to serve him. He will do that for your descendants too. Then you will love him completely in everything that you think and in everything that you do. You will continue to live in your land.

⁷ When that happens, the Lord your God will punish your enemies with all these terrible troubles, instead of you. He will punish the people who hate you and do cruel things to you. ⁸ You will turn back to the Lord. You will obey all his commands that I am giving you today. ⁹ The Lord your God will cause all your work to go very well. He will give you many children. Your animals will give birth to many babies. Lots of crops will grow in your fields. The Lord will be happy to help you again, as he was happy to help your ancestors. ¹⁰ But you must obey his commands and his rules that are written in this book of his Law. You must turn back to him. You must serve him in everything that you think and in everything that you do.

God offers life or death

¹¹ The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult for you. It is not too far away from you. ¹² God does not keep it in heaven. So you do not have to ask, ‘Who will go up to heaven to find it and bring it down to us? Who will explain it to us so that we can obey it?’

¹³ It is not far away across the sea. So you do not have to ask, ‘Who will go across the sea to fetch it for us? Who will explain it to us so that we can obey it?’

¹⁴ No! God's message is very near to you. It is in your mouth and in your mind. So you must do what it teaches you to do.

¹⁵ Look! You must choose between the things that I am offering you today. You may choose to have life and many good things. Or you may choose to have death and many troubles. ¹⁶ I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God. Live in a way that pleases him. Obey his commands, his rules and his laws. If you do that, you will live. You will become a nation of many people. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are going into as your new home.

¹⁷ But you will have trouble if you turn away from God and you do not obey him. If you decide to serve other gods and to worship them, ¹⁸ you will certainly come to an end. After you go across the Jordan River, you will not live very long in that land. That is what I am telling you today.

¹⁹ Today, I want the sky and the earth to hear what I have said to you. I have told you what you may choose. You may choose life or death. You may choose the Lord to bless you or to curse you. Choose life today, so that you and your descendants will live! ²⁰ Yes, love the Lord your God. Obey him and serve him faithfully. He is the one who gives you life. He will let you live for a long time in the land that he is giving to you. That is the land that he promised to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.