Deuteronomy 30 · Verse 15

Deuteronomy 30:15

See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deuteronomy 30:15, King James Version

Deuteronomy 30:15 in other translations

BSBSee, I have set before you today life and goodness, as well as death and disaster.
WEBBehold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil.
ASVSee, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
YLT‘See, I have set before thee to-day life and good, and death and evil,
DARBYSee, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil,
BBESee, I have put before you today, life and good, and death and evil;
WebsterSee, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

What does Deuteronomy 30:15 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 30:15-20

De 30:15-20. Death and Life Are Set before the Israelites.

15-20. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil--the alternative of a good and happy, or a disobedient and miserable life. Love of God and compliance with His will are the only ways of securing the blessings and avoiding the evils described. The choice was left to them, and in urging upon them the inducements to a wise choice, Moses warmed as he proceeded into a tone of solemn and impressive earnestness similar to that of Paul to the elders of Ephesus (Ac 20:26, 27).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 15 Life and good - Present and future blessings. Death and evil - Present and future miseries: termed, Deu 30:19, Life and death, blessing and cursing. And why were these set before them? 1. That they might comprehend their import. 2. That they might feel their importance. 3. That they might choose life, and the path of believing, loving obedience, that led to it. 4. That they and their posterity, thus choosing life and refusing evil, might be the favourites of God in time and eternity. Were there no such thing as free will in man, who could reconcile these sayings either with sincerity or common sense? God has made the human will free, and there is no power or influence either in heaven, earth, or hell, except the power of God, that can deprive it of its free volitions; of its power to will and nill, to choose and refuse, to act or not act or force it to sin against God. Hence man is accountable for his actions, because they are his; were he necessitated by fate, or sovereign constraint, they could not be his. Hence he is rewardable, hence he is punishable. God, in his creation, willed that the human creature should be free, and he formed his soul accordingly; and the Law and Gospel, the promise and precept, the denunciation of woe and the doctrine of eternal life, are all constructed on this ground; that is, they all necessarily suppose the freedom of the human will: nor could it be will if it were not free, because the principle of freedom or liberty is necessarily implied in the idea of volition. See on the Deu 5:29 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy 30:15-20
What could be said more moving, and more likely to make deep and lasting impressions? Every man wishes to obtain life and good, and to escape death and evil; he desires happiness, and dreads misery. So great is the compassion of the Lord, that he has favoured men, by his word, with such a knowledge of good and evil as will make them for ever happy, if it be not their own fault. Let us hear the sum of the whole matter. If they and theirs would love God, and serve him, they should live and be happy. If they or theirs should turn from God, desert his service, and worship other gods, that would certainly be their ruin. There never was, since the fall of man, more than one way to heaven; which is marked out in both Testaments, though not with equal clearness. Moses meant that same way of acceptance, which Paul more plainly described; and Paul's words mean the same obedience, on which Moses more fully treated. In both Testaments the good and right way is brought near, and plainly revealed to us.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Deuteronomy 30:15 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

רְאֵ֨הre.'EhseeH7200
נָתַ֤תִּיna.Ta.tiI setH5414
לְפָנֶ֙יךָ֙le.fa.Nei.kha<to> before youH6440
הַיּ֔וֹםhai.Yomthis dayH3117
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הַֽחַיִּ֖יםha.chai.Yim<the> lifeH2416
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
הַטּ֑וֹבha.Tov<the> goodH2896
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
הַמָּ֖וֶתha.Ma.vet<the> deathH4194
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
הָרָֽע\׃ha.Ra'<the> evilH7451

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Deuteronomy 30:15

  • Deuteronomy 11:26

    Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

  • Deuteronomy 30:19

    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:

  • Deuteronomy 30:1

    And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee,

  • Galatians 3:13-14

    Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

  • 1 John 5:11-12

    And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

  • Deuteronomy 28:1-14

    And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. …

  • Deuteronomy 32:47

    For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life: and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

  • Mark 16:16

    He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

  • John 3:16

    For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

  • Galatians 5:6

    For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

  • 1 John 3:23

    And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1,19; 11:26; 28:1-14; 32:47; Mr 16:16; Joh 3:16; Ga 3:13,14; 5:6
1Jo 3:23; 5:11,12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Deuteronomy 30:14

    But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

  • Deuteronomy 30:15

    See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

  • Deuteronomy 30:16

    In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

Read all of Deuteronomy 30

Deuteronomy 30:15 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mira, yo he puesto delante de ti hoy la vida y el bien, la muerte y el mal:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Regarde, j’ai mis aujourd’hui devant toi la vie et le bonheur, et la mort et le malheur,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Siehe, ich habe dir heute das Leben und das Glück, und den Tod und das Unglück vorgelegt,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Considera quod hodie proposuerim in conspectu tuo, vitam et bonum, et e contrario mortem et malum: