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,
Parallel translations
- WEB But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
- KJV But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;
- BSB But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, but are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them,
- NKJV But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them,
- NLT “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods,
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But a heart that turns away to idols chooses the path of death. Spiritual apostasy leads to ruin.
Overview
Moses warns of the opposite choice: a heart drawn away to worship other gods. The turning of the heart, not merely outward acts, marks the path to destruction. This underscores that the great danger is idolatry of the heart, from which the gospel rescues by binding the affections to the one true God in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 2 Tim 4:4and will turn away their ears from the truth, and turn aside to fables.
- Prov 1:32For the backsliding of the simple will kill them. The careless ease of fools will destroy them.
- Heb 3:12Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
- John 3:19–21This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
- 1 Sam 12:25But if you keep doing evil, you will be consumed, both you and your king.”
- Prov 14:14The unfaithful will be repaid for his own ways; likewise a good man will be rewarded for his ways.
- Deut 17:17He shall not multiply wives to himself, that his heart not turn away. He shall not greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.
- 1 Kgs 11:2of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon joined to these in love.
- Heb 12:25See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,
- Deut 29:18–28lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that produces bitter poison;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 30:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.