Deuteronomy 30 Bible study: Therefore choose life

Moses looks ahead to a day "when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse" (30:1), with Israel "among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you" (30:1). Then one Hebrew verb, shuv, turn back or return, runs through 30:1-10, seven times in all (tap return). Israel is the one who returns: "and return to the LORD your God and obey his voice" (30:2), "You shall return and obey the LORD’s voice" (30:8), "if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (30:10). In 30:1 the WEB's "call them to mind" is, in Hebrew, bring them back to your heart. And the LORD is the one who returns: "the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you" (30:3), where the verb comes twice, in "release you from captivity" and in "will return"; and "the LORD will again rejoice over you for good" (30:9), where again is the same verb. Moses had said it before in the same Hebrew words: "you shall return to the LORD your God and listen to his voice" (4:30).

Deuteronomy 30:14→leads toRomans 10:8-9

Moses says the commandment is "not in heaven" (30:12) and "Neither is it beyond the sea" (30:13): "But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it" (30:14). Paul gives these words to "the righteousness which is of faith" (Romans 10:6), and after each line adds words of his own: "Who will ascend into heaven?" with "that is, to bring Christ down" (Romans 10:6); "Who will descend into the abyss?" with "that is, to bring Christ up from the dead" (Romans 10:7); and "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" with "that is, the word of faith which we preach" (Romans 10:8). The WEB words them differently: Moses has "Who will go up for us to heaven" (30:12) and "Who will go over the sea for us" (30:13), where Paul has heaven and "the abyss" (Romans 10:7); and Paul's "The word is near you" (Romans 10:8) has no "very" and stops before "that you may do it" (30:14). Paul's "that is" readings are given here in his words, without explanation. Then he writes, "if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9).

שׁוּבshuvsay SHOOV

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "turn back, return". Strong's: "to turn back", and "often adverbial, again". It comes seven times in 30:1-10. Four times Israel returns: in 30:1, where "call them to mind" is, in Hebrew, bring them back to your heart; "and return to the LORD your God" (30:2); "You shall return" (30:8); and "if you turn to the LORD your God" (30:10). Three times the LORD does: twice in 30:3, "the LORD your God will release you from captivity… and will return and gather you", and in "the LORD will again rejoice over you" (30:9). In "release you from captivity" the Hebrew sets the verb beside its related noun, shevut; for the phrase Brown-Driver-Briggs gives "restore the captivity of". Jeremiah has the same words, "I will turn again your captivity, and I will gather you" (Jeremiah 29:14).