Deuteronomy

About Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy is Moses' last message: a renewal of the covenant for the generation about to enter the Promised Land. He retells their story, repeats God's law, and pleads with them to love the LORD with all their heart and choose life. Its call to wholehearted love and obedience echoes through the rest of the Bible, and Jesus called its command to love God the greatest commandment of all.

Written by

Presented as the farewell speeches of Moses, and traditionally attributed to him; the closing account of his death was clearly added by another hand, and scholars debate when the book reached its final form.

When

The speeches are set on the plains of Moab just before Israel entered Canaan—traditionally around 1406 BC or the 1200s BC—while many scholars connect the book's final form to a later period; the question is genuinely debated.

Themes

• Love the LORD your God
• Covenant renewal
• Remembering God's faithfulness
• Blessing and curse
• Choosing life

Key verses

• Deuteronomy 6:4-5Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
• Deuteronomy 10:12And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
• Deuteronomy 30:19-20I 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, and that you may love the LORD your God, obey Him, and hold fast to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”