Deuteronomy 30:14
in Deuteronomy 30But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
KJV
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 30
Commentary
4 notes on this verseBut consider if perhaps all people participate in him insofar as he is Word. This is why the apostle teaches us that he is sought within the seekers by those who choose to find him. He says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who shall ascend into heaven?' that is, to bring Christ down; or, 'Who shall descend into the deep?' that is, to bring Christ up again from the dead. But what does the Scripture say? The Word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart."
This site's exposition
But the word is very nigh unto thee
Romans 10:8 quotes this verse and names what is near, the word of faith, which we preach. Paul keeps the two organs Moses used and works them in the other order, the heart believing unto righteousness and the mouth making confession unto salvation at Romans 10:9-10. Moses ends on doing, that thou mayest do it, so nearness in this chapter is measured by whether a thing can be obeyed.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
But the word is very nigh unto thee - The doctrine of salvation preached by the apostles; in thy mouth, the promises of redemption made by the prophets forming a part of every Jew’s creed; in thy heart - the power to believe with the heart unto righteousness, that the tongue may make confession unto salvation. In this way, it is evident, St. Paul understood these passages; see Rom 10:6-8, etc.
on Deuteronomy 30:11-14
OUR Lord Jesus Christ, in John's Gospel, in the 46th verse of the fifth chapter, says, "Moses wrote of Me." Hence we may safely interpret much that Moses said, not only of the Law, but also of the Gospel. Indeed, the Law itself was given primarily to drive men to the Gospel. It was meant to show them the impossibility of salvation by their own works and so to shut them up to a salvation which is available even for sinners.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
This explains neither is it far off (v. 11). It is possible that the reference is to the great sea. The Atlantic Ocean.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| קָר֥וֹב | karov | [is] near | H7138 → | 77 times |
| אֵלֶ֛יךָ | ʾeleikha | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַדָּבָ֖ר | hadavar | the word | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| מְאֹ֑ד | meod | very | H3966 → | 300 times |
| בְּפִ֥יךָ | befikha | in mouth your | H6310 → | 498 times |
| וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖ | uvilvavekha | and in heart your | H3824 → | 252 times |
| לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃ ס | laasoto | to do it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
קָר֥וֹב[is] near
karovH7138 →77 times
אֵלֶ֛יךָto you
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
הַדָּבָ֖רthe word
hadavarH1697 →1440 times
מְאֹ֑דvery
meodH3966 →300 times
בְּפִ֥יךָin mouth your
befikhaH6310 →498 times
וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖and in heart your
uvilvavekhaH3824 →252 times
לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ׃ סto do it
laasotoH6213 →2628 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 7:21Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
it leads to
- Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 2:13
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be declared righteous.
- Luke 6:46
Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say?
- James 1:22
Be doers of the word, and not hearers only. Otherwise, you are deceiving yourselves.
- Luke 11:28
But He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”
- Titus 1:16
Through
John 5:46If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 18:15
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him.
- Deuteronomy 18:18–19
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
- John 1:45
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
- Deuteronomy 18:15
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1967: “Plain Gospel For Plain People” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 1.269.