30:1 the blessing and the curse This phrase links to Moses’ introduction to the laws of Deuteronomy (see Deut 11:26).

30:2 with all your heart Undivided loyalty to Yahweh is the necessary condition for Israel to return from a future exile (vv. 3–5). There is no allowance for partial loyalty to Yahweh. See 6:5 and note.

30:3 where Yahweh your God scattered you If Israel returns to Yahweh after their disobedience, He will one day return them from exile. See Jer 32:37; Ezek 34:13; 36:24.

30:4 God shall gather you Moses speaks of God’s willingness to restore Israel in hyperbolic terms. Even if the Israelites were scattered into the skies farther than the eye could see, God would still regather them if they turn back to Him.

30:5 and he will make you more numerous than your ancestors If future generations of Israelites repent of their sins, they will be blessed with even greater numbers than the conquest generation.

30:6 will circumcise your heart Earlier, this idiom negatively described Israel’s stubbornness (see Deut 10:16; note on 10:12–22). Here, it indicates the removal of the impediment of stubbornness so that Israel can turn toward Yahweh. This imagery also appears in Lev 26:41; Jer 9:25; Ezek 44:7.

30:7 curses on your enemies and on those who hate The curses of Deuteronomy 28 follow the theme of reversal; a disobedient Israel will suffer in the same ways as her enemies. The text introduces a counter-reversal: in response to repentance, God will elevate Israel to its position of blessing, and demise will once again come to those who threaten her.

30:9 will again rejoice over you These two verses encapsulate the blessings of 28:1–14 for covenant obedience.

30:12 Who will go up for us to the heavens and get it for us and cause us to hear it, so that we may do it? The next several verses employ a rhetoric of exaggeration and, to some extent, sarcasm.

30:14 so that you may do it The alternatives are completely within their comprehension and ability.

30:15 life and prosperity and death and disaster These polar oppositions illustrate the clarity of the choice.

30:16 by keeping his commandments According to 4:13 and 5:2–22, the content of the Horeb (Sinai) covenant was the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments—which Moses reiterated in ch. 5. Yahweh gave the later laws to Moses in private, and Moses then revealed them to Israel in his lengthy address in 4:44–28:68.

30:17 you bow down to other gods Moses links the blessing of living in the land to exclusive loyalty to Yahweh. See 4:26–28, 40; 5:30–33; 6:16–19; 7:12; 8:1 (compare Lev 26).

Leviticus 26 and the New Testament

30:18 you will not extend your time on the land Death and exile from the promised land result from failure to be loyal to Yahweh, which was the focus of the curses in Deut 28:15–68. See note on v. 17.

30:19 life and death I have set before you, blessing and curse See ch. 28.

30:20 and by clinging to him Moses links the promises Yahweh gave to the patriarchs and their descendants (Israel) to obedience to the Sinai covenant (29:1).