Deuteronomy 30:20

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may hold to him: for he is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

American King James Version (AKJV)

That you may love the LORD your God, and that you may obey his voice, and that you may hold to him: for he is your life, and the length of your days: that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

American Standard Version (ASV)

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

Basic English Translation (BBE)

In loving the Lord your God, hearing his voice and being true to him: for he is your life and by him will your days be long: so that you may go on living in the land which the Lord gave by an oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Webster's Revision

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

World English Bible

to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

English Revised Version (ERV)

to love the LORD thy God, to obey his voice, and to 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.

Clarke's Deuteronomy 30:20 Bible Commentary

That thou mayest love the Lord - Without love there can be no obedience.

Obey his voice - Without obedience love is fruitless and dead.

And cleave unto him - Without close attachment and perseverance, temporary love, however sincere and fervent - temporary obedience, however disinterested, energetic, and pure while it lasts - will be ultimately ineffectual. He alone who endures to the end, shall be saved. Reader, how do matters stand between God and thy soul? He cannot persevere in the grace of God whose soul is not yet made a partaker of that grace. Many talk strenuously on the impossibility of falling from grace, who have not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious. How absurd to talk and dispute about the infallibility of arriving safely at the end of a way in which a man has never yet taken one hearty step! It is never among those that have the grace of God, but among those that have it not, that we find an overweening confidence.

Barnes's Deuteronomy 30:20 Bible Commentary

That thou mayest love the Lord - Compare Deuteronomy 6:5. Love stands first as the essential and only source of obedience.

He is thy life - Or, "that" (i. e., "to love the Lord") "is thy life;" i. e., the condition of thy life and of its prolongation in the promised land. Compare Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 32:47.

Wesley's Deuteronomy 30:20 Bible Commentary

30:20 That thou mayest love the Lord thy God - Here he shews them in short, what their duty is; To love God as the Lord, a being most amiable, and as their God, a God in covenant with them: as an evidence of their love, to obey his voice in every thing, and by constancy in this love and obedience, to cleave to him all their days. And what encouragement had they to do this? For he is thy life and the length of thy days - He gives life, preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it, by his power, tho' it be a frail life, and by his presence, tho' it be a forfeited life. He sweetens life by his comforts, and compleats all in life everlasting.