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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 30

1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses⁠ I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God⁠ and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today,⁠ 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you.⁠ 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.⁠ 5 Then he will bring you to the land your ancestors possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.⁠ 6 The Lord your God will also cleanse your heart, and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your mind and being and so that you may live. 7 Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, on those who hate you and persecute you. 8 You will return and obey the Lord, keeping all his commandments I am giving you today. 9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands abundantly successful and multiply your children, the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord will once more rejoice over you to make you prosperous just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,⁠ 10 if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him with your whole mind and being. 11 “This commandment I am giving you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it too remote.⁠ 12 It is not in heaven, as though one must say, ‘Who will go up to heaven to get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’⁠ 13 And it is not across the sea,⁠ as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.⁠ 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess. 17 However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods, 18 I declare to you this very day that you will certainly perish! You will not extend your time in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. 19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you⁠ that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live! 20 I also call on you to love the Lord your God, to obey him and be loyal to him, for he gives you life and enables you to live continually in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 30:3 and 1 Kings 8:50

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

1 Kings 8 echoes Deuteronomy 30 about exile, repentance, and mercy but changes what mercy means. Deuteronomy says mercy is a return to the land, while 1 Kings says mercy is better treatment under foreign rule, likely reflecting the reality of exile.

Passages

Deuteronomy 30:3

Hebrew Bible
1 “When you have experienced all these things, both the blessings and the curses I have set before you, you will reflect upon them in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you. 2 Then if you and your descendants turn to the Lord your God and obey him with your whole mind and being just as I am commanding you today, 3 the Lord your God will reverse your captivity and have pity on you. He will turn and gather you from all the peoples among whom he has scattered you. 4 Even if your exiles are in the most distant land, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

1 Kings 8:50

Hebrew Bible
48 When they return to you with all their heart and being in the land where they are held prisoner, and direct their prayers to you toward the land you gave to their ancestors, your chosen city, and the temple I built for your honor, 49 then listen from your heavenly dwelling place to their prayers for help and vindicate them. 50 Forgive all the rebellious acts of your sinful people and cause their captors to have mercy on them. 51 After all, they are your people and your special possession whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Kings

References

"... The first draft of this passage may stem from the Babylonian time, but in its present form a Persian period setting is more likely. Interestingly the prayer brings together the gift of the land and the fact of living outside the land. The expression “the land given to the fathers” appears for the first time in Deuteronomist in 1 Kings 8 (verses 34, 40, 48) while in the Books of Deuteronomy and Joshua the land “promised to the fathers” appears constantly. It is only after the building of the Temple that the divine oath is fulfilled. But in spite of the importance of the Temple, Solomon underlines in his prayer YHWH’s optional separation from his sanctuary: he could be worshipped outside of the Temple. This is obvious in the prayer occasions of verses 31-51. Contrary to the almost identical call to YHWH (“hear from heaven”), the place from which the prayer is spoken varies in an interesting manner. In the first case, it is clearly the Temple, before the altar (verse 31). Then (verse 35), the prayer is addressed towards the sanctuary. Finally, people pray from another country, raising their request towards the fathers’ land, the city, and the Temple (verses 46-51). That means that during the dedication of the Temple, Solomon predicts the loss of the land and the deportation. At the same time, Solomon gives the rebuilt Temple a new role: it becomes a qibla, and prayers towards the Temple replace the sacrifices. In this last prayer there is no mention of a return. The Deuteronomist redactor envisages that YHWH will listen from heaven, but will not bring the people back from exile; rather, he will grant them compassion from those who deported them. The root is rare in the context of the Deuteronomist, the closest parallel occurs in Deuteronomy 30:3, which also belongs to a Persian period text ... In Deuteronomy 30 the divine compassion leads to the return in the land, whereas in 1 Kings 8, YHWH provokes compassion among Israel’s vanquishers in order that they can live in the foreign land ..."
Innocent Himbaza, ed., Making the Biblical Text: Textual Studies in the Hebrew and the Greek Bible (Fribourg: Academic Press Fribourg, 2015), 7.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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