15 “See, vI have set before you today life and good, death and evil. 16 wIf you obey the commandments of the Lord your God1 that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,2 then you shall xlive and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today, ythat you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 zI call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
The Certainty of God’s Promise
13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, fhe swore by himself, 14 saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,1 having patiently waited, gobtained the promise. 16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to hlie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to ihold fast to the hope set before us. 19 We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that jenters into the inner place behind the curtain, 20 kwhere Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, lhaving become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
