The Promise of Restoration
(Nehemiah 1:1–11)

1“ And it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you—the blessing and the curse that I have set before you—and you call them to mind in all the nations to which YHWH your God has driven you away, 2and you return to YHWH your God and listen to His voice according to all that I command you today—you and your sons—with all your heart and with all your soul, 3then YHWH your God will turn back your captivity,† and have compassion on you, and turn back and gather you from all the nations to which YHWH your God has scattered you there. 4If it comes to pass that you are cast out into the extremity of the heavens,† from there YHWH your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you.†

5And YHWH your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it, and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6And YHWH your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, to love YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.

7And YHWH your God will put all these oaths on your enemies and on those who hate you, who pursued you. 8And you will turn back and listen to the voice of YHWH and do all His commandments that I command you today. 9And YHWH your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, and in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your land, for good. For YHWH will again rejoice over you for good, as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10if you listen to the voice of YHWH your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes written in the Book of this Law, and if you turn to YHWH your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life or Death

11For this commandment that I command you today is not too wonderful for you, and it is not far off. 12It is not in the heavens, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend for us into the heavens† and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go for us to beyond the sea† and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart,† that you may do it.

15See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil, 16in that I am commanding you today to love YHWH your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, that you may live and multiply, that YHWH your God will bless you in the land that you are going there to possess.

17But if your heart turns away, so that you do not listen, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you⁺ today that you⁺ will surely perish; you⁺ will not prolong your days in the land that you are passing over the Jordan to go in there to possess it.

19I call as witnesses against you⁺ today the heavens and the earth that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that you may live—you and your seed, 20and that you may love YHWH your God, to listen to 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 that YHWH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them.”