Chapter Thirty

The possibility of reconciliation with God and the return of his blessings through sincere repentance and observance of the law.

Deuteronomy 30:1. When all these words come upon you — the blessing and the curse that I have set before you — and you take them to heart among all the nations among which the Lord your God has scattered you, Deuteronomy 30:2. and you return to the Lord your God and listen to his voice, as I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul — Deuteronomy 30:3. then the Lord your God will restore your captives and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the nations among which the Lord your God has scattered you. Deuteronomy 30:4. Even if you are scattered [from the edge of heaven] to the edge of heaven, even from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you, Deuteronomy 30:5. and [from there] the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you will possess it, and he will make you prosper and make you more numerous than your fathers; Deuteronomy 30:6. and the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live; Deuteronomy 30:7. Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you, Deuteronomy 30:8. and you will turn back and listen to the voice of the Lord [your God] and carry out all his commandments that I command you today; Deuteronomy 30:9. the Lord your God will give you abundant success in all the work of your hands, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, in the fruit of your land; for the Lord [your God] will again rejoice over you, doing you good, just as he rejoiced over your fathers, Deuteronomy 30:10. if you listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping [and carrying out all] his commandments and his statutes [and his laws] written in this book of the law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. The return of the Jews to God and their return to their homeland was most immediately fulfilled at the end of the Babylonian captivity. A more complete and essential return in the future was mystically foretold by the Apostle Paul (Rom 11:1).

Deuteronomy 30:11. For this commandment that I command you today is not too difficult for you and is not far away; Deuteronomy 30:12. it is not in heaven, so that one could say: “Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, and we will carry it out? Deuteronomy 30:13. and it is not beyond the sea, so that one could say: “Who will go across the sea for us and bring it to us, and let us hear it, and we will carry it out? Deuteronomy 30:14. but this word is very near to you: it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may carry it out. The commandment of genuine love for God, for one’s neighbor, and for oneself is inscribed on the tablets of the human heart by nature itself (Rom 2:14; cf. Rom 10:6-8).