◄ Deuteronomy 30:19 ►
I 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,
Study Bible
I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today

Heaven and earth are summoned as enduring witnesses to Israel’s covenant with the Lord. Their presence emphasizes that Israel’s response to God’s commands is public, binding, and accountable before the Creator and His creation.

Deu 4:26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day…
Deu 31:28 Assemble before me all the elders of your tribes…
Psa 50:4 He summons the heavens above, and the earth,…

that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.

Israel stands before a real covenant choice. Obedience brings life under God’s favor in the land, while rebellion brings judgment, loss, and death as warned in the covenant curses.

Deu 11:26-28 See, today I am setting before you a blessing and a curse—…
Jer 21:8 Furthermore, you are to tell this people…
Deu 28:1-2 Now if you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God…

Therefore choose life,

Moses urges the people to respond deliberately and faithfully to the Lord. Life is found not in Israel’s independence or strength, but in remaining devoted to the God who redeemed and sustained them.

Jos 24:15 But if it is unpleasing in your sight to serve the LORD,…
Pro 8:35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor…
Psa 34:12-14 Who is the man who delights in life, …

so that you and your descendants may live,

Israel’s obedience would shape the future of the nation. Parents were responsible to preserve covenant faithfulness among their children, so that succeeding generations would continue in the blessings God promised to His people.

Deu 4:40 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you…
Gen 17:7 I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant…
Psa 78:5-7 For He established a testimony in Jacob,…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Moses
The leader of the Israelites who is delivering God's message to the people. He is urging them to make a choice between life and death, blessing and curse.

2. Israelites
The chosen people of God who are on the brink of entering the Promised Land. They are the recipients of this message and are being called to make a covenantal decision.

3. Heaven and Earth
Invoked as witnesses to the covenant. This reflects the seriousness and solemnity of the choice being presented.

4. Promised Land
The land of Canaan, which the Israelites are about to enter. It represents the fulfillment of God's promise and the context for living out the covenant.

5. Covenant Renewal
The event where Moses is renewing the covenant with the Israelites, reminding them of the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience.
Teaching Points
The Power of Choice
God grants us the freedom to choose, but with that freedom comes responsibility. Our choices have profound implications for our lives and the lives of our descendants.

Witnesses to Our Decisions
The invocation of heaven and earth as witnesses underscores the gravity of our decisions. Our choices are not made in isolation but are observed by God and His creation.

Life and Death: A Spiritual Reality
The choice between life and death is not merely physical but deeply spiritual. Choosing life means aligning with God's will and receiving His blessings.

Generational Impact
Our decisions affect not only our lives but also the lives of future generations. Choosing life sets a foundation of faith and blessing for our descendants.

Covenant Faithfulness
The call to choose life is a call to covenant faithfulness. It is a reminder to live in obedience to God's commands and to trust in His promises.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the concept of choice in Deuteronomy 30:19 relate to the choices we face in our daily lives?

2. In what ways can we "choose life" in our current cultural context, and what challenges might we face in doing so?

3. How does the idea of heaven and earth as witnesses influence your understanding of accountability in your spiritual walk?

4. Reflect on a time when a decision you made had a significant impact on others. How does this relate to the generational impact mentioned in Deuteronomy 30:19?

5. How can the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament help us understand and apply the choice between life and death presented in Deuteronomy 30:19?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Genesis 2:16-17
The choice between life and death is reminiscent of the choice given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden regarding the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Joshua 24:15
Joshua later echoes Moses' call to choose whom they will serve, emphasizing the importance of decision in the life of faith.

John 10:10
Jesus speaks of coming to give life abundantly, connecting the choice of life in Deuteronomy to the life offered through Christ.

Romans 6:23
Paul contrasts the wages of sin, which is death, with the gift of God, which is eternal life, paralleling the choice between life and death.
Sermons
Nature a WitnessJ. Orr Deuteronomy 30:19
The Love of God its Own RewardCharles KingsleyDeuteronomy 30:19
A Last WordJ. Orr Deuteronomy 30:15-20
An Alternative ChoiceD. Davies Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Choose Death or LifeBonnefon.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Choosing LifeA. Maclaren, D. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Choosing Life or DeathC. Babut, B. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Death and Life Set Before the PeopleR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Freedom of Man's Will; Or, the Great DecisionG. Lorimer, D. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
LifeW. Stevens.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Life and Good, Death and EvilManton, ThomasDeuteronomy 30:15-20
Life or DeathH. Linton, M. A.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Blessing and the CurseC. Kingsley, M. A.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Choice of LifeF. K. Freeston.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Decisive ChoiceF. D. Maurice, M. A.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The God of Our LifeMatthew Henry.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Good ChoiceA. K. H. Boyd, D. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Law of God Sets Before Us Good and EvilC. Hickman, D. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Offer of Life and DeathJ. Burns, D. D.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
The Service of God ChosenC. E. Walters.Deuteronomy 30:15-20
People
Isaac, Jacob, Moses
Places
Jordan River, Moab
Topics
Blessing, Blessings, Caused, Choose, Curse, Curses, Cursing, Death, Descendants, Fixed, Hast, Heaven, Heavens, Mayest, Order, Record, Reviling, Seed, Testify, To-day, Witness, Witnesses, Yourselves
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 30:19

     4055   heaven and earth
     4287   universe
     5020   human nature
     6622   choice
     6663   freedom, of will
     9513   hell, as incentive to action

Deuteronomy 30:15-19

     4937   fate, fatalism
     8702   agnosticism

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

     1335   blessing

Deuteronomy 30:16-20

     8625   worship, acceptable attitudes

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

     8315   orthodoxy, in OT
     8410   decision-making, examples

Library
June 30. "Therefore, Choose" (Deut. xxx. 19).
"Therefore, choose" (Deut. xxx. 19). Men are choosing every day the spiritual or earthly. And as we choose we are taking our place unconsciously with the friends of Christ, or the world. It is not merely what ye say, it is what we prefer. When Solomon made his great choice at Gibeon, God said to him, "Because this was in thine heart to ask wisdom, therefore will I give it unto thee, and all else besides that thou didst not choose." It was not merely that he said it because it was right to say, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Spirit of the Law
'For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15. See, I have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Love of God Its Own Reward
DEUT. xxx. 19, 20. 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; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, 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 God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them. I spoke to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

The Blessing and the Curse.
Preached on Whit-Sunday. DEUT. XXX. 19, 20. 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: 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 …
Charles Kingsley—Westminster Sermons

The Jewish World in the Days of Christ - the Jewish Dispersion in the East.
Among the outward means by which the religion of Israel was preserved, one of the most important was the centralisation and localisation of its worship in Jerusalem. If to some the ordinances of the Old Testament may in this respect seem narrow and exclusive, it is at least doubtful, whether without such a provision Monothsiem itself could have continued as a creed or a worship. In view of the state of the ancient world, and of the tendencies of Israel during the earlier stages of their history, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Distinction Between Exterior and Interior Actions --Those of the Soul in this Condition are Interior, but Habitual, Continued, Direct, Profound, Simple, and Imperceptible --Being a Continual
The actions of men are either exterior or interior. The exterior are those which appear outwardly, and have a sensible object, possessing neither good nor evil qualities, excepting as they receive them from the interior principle in which they originate. It is not of these that I intend to speak, but only of interior actions, which are those actions of the soul by which it applies itself inwardly to some object, or turns away from some other. When, being applied to God, I desire to commit an …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved
PROPOSITION VI. According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved; neither is it needful to recur to the ministry of angels, and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the doctrine and history of Christ's passion unto such, who, living in parts of the world where the outward preaching of the gospel is unknown, have well improved the first and common grace. For as hence it well follows that some of …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Entering the Covenant: with all the Heart
"And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and all their soul."--2 CHRON. xv. 12 (see xxxiv. 31, and 2 Kings xxiii. 3). "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul."--DEUT. xxx. 6. "And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall turn to Me with their whole heart."--JER. xxiv. 7 (see xxix. 13). …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

"He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect, for all his Ways are Judgment, a God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He.
Deut. xxxii. 4, 5.--"He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children," &c. There are none can behold their own vileness as it is, but in the sight of God's glorious holiness. Sin is darkness, and neither sees itself, nor any thing else, therefore must his light shine to discover this darkness. If we abide within ourselves, and men like ourselves, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Disciple, -- Master, what are Heaven and Hell...
The Disciple,--Master, what are heaven and hell, and where are they? The Master,--1. Heaven and hell are the two opposite states in the spiritual realm. They have their origin in the heart of man and it is in this world that their foundations are laid. Since man cannot see his own spirit, so neither can he see these two states of the soul. But he has experience of them within him, just as he feels pain from a blow and perceives sweetness from eating sweetmeats. The wound caused by the blow may increase …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

"Now the End of the Commandment is Charity Out of a Pure Heart, and a Good Conscience, and Faith Unfeigned. "
[It is extremely probable that this was one of the probationary discourses which the author delivered before the Presbytery of Glasgow, previous to his ordination. The following is an extract from the Record of that Presbytery: "Dec. 5, 1649. The qlk daye Mr. Hew Binnen made his popular sermon 1 Tim. i. ver. 5 'The end of ye commandment is charity.'--Ordaines Mr. Hew Binnen to handle his controversie this day fifteen dayes, De satisfactione Christi."--Ed.] 1 Tim. ii. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Deuteronomy 30:19 NIV
Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT
Deuteronomy 30:19 ESV
Deuteronomy 30:19 NASB
Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV

Deuteronomy 30:19 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Deuteronomy 30:18
Top of Page
Top of Page