The Blessing of Returning to God
1 “Nowit shall come to pass, whenall these things come upon you, the blessing and thecurse which I have set before you, andyou callthemto mind among all the nations where theLordyour God drives you,
2 and youreturn to theLordyour God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul,
3 that theLordyour God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, andgather you again from all the nations where theLordyour God has scattered you.
4 Ifanyof you are driven out to the farthestpartsunder heaven, from there theLordyour God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.
5 Then theLordyour God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers.
6 AndtheLordyour God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love theLordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.
7 “Also theLordyour God will put all thesecurses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
8 And you willagain obey the voice of theLordand do all His commandments which I command you today.
9 TheLordyour God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For theLordwill againrejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers,
10 if you obey the voice of theLordyour God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law,andif you turn to theLordyour God with all your heart and with all your soul.
The Choice of Life or Death
11 “For this commandment which I command you todayisnottoomysterious for you, norisit far off.
12 Itisnot in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
13 Norisit beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’
14 But the wordisvery near you,in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 “See,I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
16 in that I command you today to love theLordyour God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and theLordyour God will bless you in the land which you go to possess.
17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,
18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolongyourdays in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess.
19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you,thatI have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
20 that you may love theLordyour God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for Heisyourlife and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which theLordswore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”