Deuteronomy 30 · Verse 19

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 30:19, King James Version

Deuteronomy 30:19 in other translations

BSBI 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,
WEBI 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,
ASVI call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;
YLT‘I have caused to testify against you to-day the heavens and the earth; life and death I have set before thee, the blessing and the reviling; and thou hast fixed on life, so that thou dost live, thou and thy seed,
DARBYI call heaven and earth to witness this day against you: life and death have I set before you, blessing and cursing: choose then life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed,
BBELet heaven and earth be my witnesses against you this day that I have put before you life and death, a blessing and a curse: so take life for yourselves and for your seed:
WebsterI 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:

What does Deuteronomy 30:19 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…

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 30:15-20 →

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…

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 30:15-20 →

Deuteronomy 30:19 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.

הַעִידֹ֨תִיha.'i.Do.tiI call as witnessesH5749
בָכֶ֣םva.Khemagainst <the> you
הַיּוֹם֮hai.yOmthis dayH3117
אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853
הַשָּׁמַ֣יִםha.sha.Ma.yimthe heavensH8064
וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853
הָאָרֶץ֒ha.'a.Retzthe earthH776
הַחַיִּ֤יםha.chai.Yim<the> lifeH2416
וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ve.ha.Ma.vetand <the> deathH4194
נָתַ֣תִּיna.Ta.tiI have setH5414
לְפָנֶ֔יךָle.fa.Nei.kha<to> before youH6440
הַבְּרָכָ֖הha.be.ra.Khah<the> blessingH1293
וְהַקְּלָלָ֑הve.ha.ke.la.Lahand <the> curseH7045
וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙u.va.char.Taand you will chooseH977
בַּֽחַיִּ֔יםba.chai.Yim<in> <the> lifeH2416
לְמַ֥עַןle.Ma.'anso thatH4616
תִּחְיֶ֖הtich.Yehyou may liveH2421
אַתָּ֥ה'a.TahyouH859
וְזַרְעֶֽךָ\׃ve.zar.'E.khaand offspring yourH2233

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

Cross references for Deuteronomy 30:19

  • Deuteronomy 30:15

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

  • Deuteronomy 11:26

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

  • Psalms 119:30

    I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

  • Joshua 24:15-22

    And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods; For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed: And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God. …

  • Proverbs 8:36

    But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.

  • 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,

  • Luke 10:42

    But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

  • Jeremiah 32:39

    And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

  • 1 Timothy 5:21

    I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.

  • Deuteronomy 4:26

    I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

  • Psalms 119:173

    Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

  • Acts 2:39

    For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I call heaven.
4:26; 31:28; 32:1; Isa 1:2; Jer 2:12,13; 22:29,30; Mic 6:1,2
1Ti 5:21
that I have.
15; 11:26
choose life.
Jos 24:15-22; Ps 119:30,111,173; Pr 1:29; 8:36; Isa 56:4; Lu 10:42
that both thou.
Jer 32:39; Ac 2:39

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

Context

  • Deuteronomy 30:18

    I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

  • 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 30:20

    That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Read all of Deuteronomy 30

Deuteronomy 30:19 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
A los cielos y la tierra llamo por testigos hoy contra vosotros, que os he puesto delante la vida y la muerte, la bendición y la maldición: escoge pues la vida, porque vivas tú y tu simiente:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
J’appelle aujourd’hui à témoin contre vous les cieux et la terre: j’ai mis devant toi la vie et la mort, la bénédiction et la malédiction. Choisis la vie, afin que tu vives, toi et ta semence,
German
Elberfelder 1871
Ich nehme heute den Himmel und die Erde zu Zeugen gegen euch: das Leben und den Tod habe ich euch vorgelegt, den Segen und den Fluch! So wähle das Leben, auf daß du lebest, du und dein Same,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Testes invoco hodie cælum et terram, quod proposuerim vobis vitam et mortem, benedictionem et maledictionem. Elige ergo vitam, ut et tu vivas, et semen tuum: