Deuteronomy 30:20

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cleave to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וּלְדָבְקָה

dâbaq

H1692

“and · to cleave”

Conjunction + Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct

Appears 54× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 2:24

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 398

to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch - (Qal) - to cling, cleave to - to stay with - (Pual) to be joined together - (Hiphil) - to cause to cleave to - to pursue closely - to overtake - (Hophal) to be made to cleave

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

25: words
22: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וּלְדָבְקָה to cleave H1692 occurs in 52 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

6 verbs
12 nouns
1 pronoun
3 prepositions
1 conjunction
2 particles

Verb forms

לְאַֽהֲבָה֙ Qal · Infinitive Construct
לִשְׁמֹ֥עַ Qal · Infinitive Construct
וּלְדָבְקָה Qal · Infinitive Construct
לָשֶׁ֣בֶת Qal · Infinitive Construct
נִשְׁבַּ֨ע Niphal · Perfect
לָתֵ֥ת Qal · Infinitive Construct

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

יְהוָ֣ה LORD H3068 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 48 words from the Hebrew and 49 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 25 Hebrew tokens and 41 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 30:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

John 11:25–26 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live.
Deuteronomy 10:20 You shall fear Yahweh your God; him shall you serve; and to him shall you cleave, and by his name shall you swear.
John 17:3 This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
Acts 17:25 neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
Acts 17:28 'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
Deuteronomy 4:40 You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever.
Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

Deuteronomy 5:16 "Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you; that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you, in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
Psalms 36:9 For with you is the spring of life. In your light shall we see light.
Psalms 66:9 Who preserves our life among the living, And doesn't allow our feet to be moved.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
Joshua 23:8 but cleave to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.
Psalms 27:1 Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?
Deuteronomy 4:4 But you who did cleave to Yahweh your God are alive everyone of you this day.
Deuteronomy 6:5 and you shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 11:9 and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their seed, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Acts 11:23 who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.
Colossians 3:3–4 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Deuteronomy 30:16 in that I command you this day to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.
Romans 12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good.
Revelation 21:6 He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
Deuteronomy 12:10 But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety;
Deuteronomy 30:6 Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, that you may live.

Psalms 30:5 For his anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, But joy comes in the morning.
Revelation 22:1 He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" He who hears, let him say, "Come!" He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Deuteronomy 11:22 For if you shall diligently keep all this commandment which I command you, to do it, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave to him;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 30:20 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לְאַֽהֲבָה֙ אֶת יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ לִשְׁמֹ֥עַ בְּקֹל֖וֹ וּלְדָבְקָה ב֑וֹ כִּ֣י ה֤וּא חַיֶּ֨יךָ֙ וְאֹ֣רֶךְ יָמֶ֔יךָ לָשֶׁ֣בֶת עַל הָאֲדָמָ֗ה אֲשֶׁר֩ נִשְׁבַּ֨ע יְהוָ֧ה לַאֲבֹתֶ֛יךָ לְאַבְרָהָ֛ם לְיִצְחָ֥ק וּֽלְיַעֲקֹ֖ב לָתֵ֥ת לָהֶֽם

to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cleave to him; for he is your life, and the length of your days; that you may dwell in the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 30:20 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀγαπάω κύριος ὁ θεός σύ εἰςἀκούω ὁ φωνή αὐτός καί ἔχω αὐτός ὅτι οὗτος ὁ ζωή σύ καί ὁ μακρότης ὁ ἡμέρα σύ καταοἰκέω σύ ἐπί ὁ γῆ ὅς ὄμνυμι κύριος ὁ πατήρ σύ ἀβραάμ καί ισαακ καί ἰακώβ δίδωμι αὐτός

to love the Lord your God, to listen to his voice, and cleave to him; for this is your life, and the length of your days, that you should dwell upon the land, which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraam, and Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לְמִרְחַם יָת יְיָ אֱלָהָךְ לְקַבָּלָא לְמֵימְרֵהּ וּלְאִתְקְרָבָא לְדַחַלְתֵּהּ אֲרֵי הוּא חַיָיךְ וְאוֹרָכוּת יוֹמָיךְ לְמִתַּב עַל אַרְעָא דִי קַיִים יְיָ לַאֲבָהָתָךְ לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקֹב לְמִתַּן לְהוֹן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

לְמִירְחַם יַת יְיָ אֱלָהָכוֹן לְקַבָּלָא לְמֵימְרֵיהּ וּלְמִקְרַב לִדְחַלְתֵּיהּ אֲרוּם אוֹרַיְיתָא דְאַתּוּן עֲסִיקִין בָּהּ הִיא חַיֵיכוֹן בְּעַלְמָא הָדֵין וְאוֹגְדוּת יוֹמֵיכוֹן בְּעַלְמָא דְאָתֵי וְתִתְכַּנְשׁוּן בְּסוֹף גַלְוָותָא וְתֵיתְבוּן עַל אַרְעָא דְקַיֵים יְיָ לְאַבְהַתְכוֹן לְאַבְרָהָם לְיִצְחָק וּלְיַעֲקב לְמִתַּן לְהוֹן

that you may love the Lord thy God, to obey His Word, and keep close unto His fear; for the law in which you occupy yourselves will be your life in this world, and the prolongment of your days in the world that cometh; and you shall be gathered together at the end of the scattering, and dwell upon the land which the Lord sware to your fathers, to Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, to give it unto them.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 30:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Deu 30:20 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 give them.

Ver. 20. For he is thy life.] He in whom thou livest, as the fish doth in the water, the lamp in the oil, &c. He is the author of life natural, spiritual, and eternal to his obedient servants.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Deu 30:20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God — Here he shows them in short what their duty is; to love God as the Lord, a being most amiable, and as their God, a God in covenant with them: as an evidence of their love, to obey his voice in every thing, and by constancy in this love and obedience, to cleave to him all their days. And what encouragement had they to do this? For he is thy life and the length of thy days — He gives life, preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it, by his power, though it be a frail life, and by his presence, though it be a forfeited life. He sweetens life by his comforts, and completes all in life everlasting.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

30:20 the key to your life: In its most meaningful sense, life consists of absolute commitment to the Lord.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20. That thou mayest love the Lord] Without love there can be no obedience.

Obey his voice] Without obedience love is fruitless and dead.

And - cleave unto him] Without close attachment and perseverance, temporary love, however sincere and fervent - temporary obedience, however disinterested, energetic, and pure while it lasts - will be ultimately ineffectual. He alone who endures to the end, shall be saved. Reader, how do matters stand between God and thy soul? He cannot persevere in the grace of God whose soul is not yet made a partaker of that grace. Many talk strenuously on the impossibility of falling from grace, who have not yet tasted that the Lord is gracious. How absurd to talk and dispute about the infallibility of arriving safely at the end of a way in which a man has never yet taken one hearty step! It is never among those that have the grace of God, but among those that have it not, that we find an overweening confidence.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) He is thy life, and the length of thy days.—This is the Old Testament form of a well-known saying in the New Testament, which may yet be fulfilled in Israel, “I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die” (Joh_11:25-26).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20. love … obey … cleave] See on Deu_6:5, Deu_10:20, Deu_13:4 (5).

for that is thy life, etc.] Variant from Deu_4:1; Deu_4:40, etc.

sware] See on Deu_1:8.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

That thou mayest love the Lord thy God,.... And show it by keeping his commands:

and that thou mayest obey his voice; in his word, and by his prophets:

and that thou mayest cleave unto him; and to his worship, and not follow after and serve other gods:

for he is thy life, and the length of thy days; the God of their lives, and the Father of their mercies; the giver of long life, and all the blessings of it; and which he had promised to those that were obedient, to him, and which they might expect:

that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them; the land of Canaan, often thus described; this was the grand promise made to obedience to the law, and was typical of eternal life and happiness; which is had, not through man's obedience to the law, but through the obedience and righteousness of Christ.

Next: Deuteronomy Chapter 31

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

He is. From God all advantages are derived. We may render the Hebrew, with the Septuagint, "Because this is thy life (Calmet)....to dwell," &c. By observing the law of God, long life and possession of the promised land can be alone attained. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

He is thy life, i.e. the cause or author of thy life, as life is used Joh 14:6; 17:3.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

For he is thy life; rather, for this is thy life; to love the Lord is really to live the true, the higher life. (cf. Deu_4:40 Deu_32:47)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

That thou mayest love the Lord thy God - Here he shews them in short, what their duty is; To love God as the Lord, a being most amiable, and as their God, a God in covenant with them: as an evidence of their love, to obey his voice in every thing, and by constancy in this love and obedience, to cleave to him all their days. And what encouragement had they to do this? For he is thy life and the length of thy days - He gives life, preserves life, restores life, and prolongs it, by his power, tho' it be a frail life, and by his presence, tho' it be a forfeited life. He sweetens life by his comforts, and compleats all in life everlasting.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

חיּיך הוּא כּי, for that (namely, to love the Lord) is thy life, that is, the condition of life, and of long life, in the promised land (vid., Deu 4:40).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 25 words (22 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is dâbaq (“to cleave”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to cleave” (dâbaq) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Genesis 2:24 shares the word «to cleave» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“LORD” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «לְאַֽהֲבָה֙» is Qal Infinitive Construct. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 25 Hebrew ↔ 41 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 18 words in this verse.
“LORD” occurs 2× in this single verse.
22 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 25 words in this verse.