Deuteronomy 30

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 'And when all these words have come true for you -- the blessing and the curse, which I have offeredyou -- if you meditate on them in your heart wherever among the nations Yahweh your God has driven you,	1 "When all these things which I have set before you, the blessings and the curses, are fulfilled in you, and from among whatever nations the LORD, your God, may have dispersed you, you ponder them in your heart:
2 if you return to Yahweh your God, if with al your heart and with all your soul you obey his voice, youand your children, in everything that I am laying down for you today,	2 then, provided that you and your children return to the LORD, your God, and heed his voice with all your heart and all your soul, just as I now command you,
3 then Yahweh your God wil bring back your captives, he will have pity on you and gather you backfrom al the peoples among whom Yahweh your God has scattered you.	3 the LORD, your God, will change your lot; and taking pity on you, he will again gather you from all the nations wherein he has scattered you.
4 Should you have been banished to the very sky's end, Yahweh your God will gather you again evenfrom there, wil come there to reclaim you	4 Though you may have been driven to the farthest corner of the world, even from there will the LORD, your God, gather you; even from there will he bring you back.
5 and bring you back to the country which belonged to your ancestors, so that you may possess it inyour turn, and be made prosperous there and more numerous than your ancestors.	5 The LORD, your God, will then bring you into the land which your fathers once occupied, that you too may occupy it, and he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.
6 'Yahweh your God wil circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you wil loveYahweh your God with all your heart and soul, and so wil live.	6 The LORD, your God, will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, that you may love the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, and so may live.
7 Yahweh your God wil make al these curses recoil on your foes and on your enemies who havepersecuted you.	7 But all those curses the LORD, your God, will assign to your enemies and the foes who persecuted you.
8 And once again you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God and you wil put all his commandmentsinto practice, which I am laying down for you today.	8 You, however, must again heed the LORD'S voice and carry out all his commandments which I now enjoin on you.
9 Yahweh your God wil make you prosper in al your labours, in the offspring of your body, in the yieldof your cattle and in the yield of your soil. For once again Yahweh will delight in your prosperity as he used totake delight in the prosperity of your ancestors,	9 Then the LORD, your God, will increase in more than goodly measure the returns from all your labors, the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil; for the LORD, your God, will again take delight in your prosperity, even as he took delight in your fathers',
10 if you obey the voice of Yahweh your God, by keeping his commandments and decrees written in thebook of this Law, and if you return to Yahweh your God with all your heart and soul.	10 if only you heed the voice of the LORD, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this book of the law, when you return to the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul.
11 'For this Law which I am laying down for you today is neither obscure for you nor beyond your reach.	11 "For this command which I enjoin on you today is not too mysterious and remote for you.
12 It is not in heaven, so that you need to wonder, "Who wil go up to heaven for us and bring it down tous, so that we can hear and practise it?"	12 It is not up in the sky, that you should say, 'Who will go up in the sky to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
13 Nor is it beyond the seas, so that you need to wonder, "Who will cross the seas for us and bring itback to us, so that we can hear and practise it?"	13 Nor is it across the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea to get it for us and tell us of it, that we may carry it out?'
14 No, the word is very near to you, it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to put into practice.	14 No, it is something very near to you, already in your mouths and in your hearts; you have only to carry it out.
15 'Look, today I am offering you life and prosperity, death and disaster.	15 "Here, then, I have today set before you life and prosperity, death and doom.
16 If you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am laying down for you today, if youlove Yahweh your God and fol ow his ways, if you keep his commandments, his laws and his customs, you willlive and grow numerous, and Yahweh your God wil bless you in the country which you are about to enter andmake your own.	16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God, which I enjoin on you today, loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees, you will live and grow numerous, and the LORD, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.
17 But if your heart turns away, if you refuse to listen, if you let yourself be drawn into worshipping othergods and serving them,	17 If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen, but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,
18 I tel you today, you will most certainly perish; you will not live for long in the country which you arecrossing the Jordan to enter and possess.	18 I tell you now that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.
19 Today, I call heaven and earth to witness against you: I am offering you life or death, blessing orcurse. Choose life, then, so that you and your descendants may live,	19 I call heaven and earth today to witness against you: I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live,
20 in the love of Yahweh your God, obeying his voice, holding fast to him; for in this your life consists,and on this depends the length of time that you stay in the country which Yahweh swore to your ancestorsAbraham, Isaac and Jacob that he would give them.'	20 by loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the LORD swore he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."