I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
Parallel translations
- WEB I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants;
- KJV I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:
- NKJV I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
- NASB I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
- NLT “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!
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
Calling heaven and earth as witnesses, Moses urges them to choose life. God earnestly pleads with people to choose life and blessing.
Overview
Moses invokes heaven and earth as witnesses to the offered choice of life and death, blessing and curse, then exhorts, 'choose life.' The appeal reveals God's genuine desire for his people's good and life. This pleading anticipates the gospel invitation, in which God in Christ urges sinners to receive the life he freely offers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Deut 30:15See, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.
- Deut 11:26See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—
- Ps 119:30I have chosen the way of truth; I have set Your ordinances before me.
- Josh 24:15–22But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD!”
- Prov 8:36But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
- Deut 30:1“When all these things come upon you—the blessings and curses I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which the LORD your God has banished you,
- Luke 10:42But only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, and it will not be taken away from her.”
- Jer 32:39I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
- 1 Tim 5:21I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels to maintain these principles without bias, and to do nothing out of partiality.
- Deut 4:26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
- Acts 2:39This promise belongs to you and your children and to all who are far off—to all whom the Lord our God will call to Himself.”
- Ps 119:173May Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts.
- Deut 31:28Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes and all your officers so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
- Mic 6:1–2Hear now what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
- Ps 119:111Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
- Prov 1:29For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the LORD.
- Isa 1:2Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
- Deut 32:1Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
- Jer 22:29–30O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD!
- Jer 2:12–13Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 56:4For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, who choose what pleases Me and hold fast to My covenant—
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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 30:19 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
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