◄ Deuteronomy 30:6 ►
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
Study Bible
The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts

Physical circumcision marked Abraham’s descendants as God’s covenant people (Genesis 17:10–14), but God promises an inward work that removes rebellion and hardness from the heart. Israel’s restored obedience would not rest merely on external rituals or human resolve. The LORD Himself would renew His people from within, producing the devotion He commands. Jeremiah likewise foretold a new covenant in which God would write His law on the hearts of His people (Jeremiah 31:31–34). Paul identifies such inward circumcision as the work of the Spirit (Romans 2:29).

Deu 10:16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and stiffen your necks.…
Jer 4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins…
Rom 2:29 No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly,…

and the hearts of your descendants,

God’s covenant mercy reaches beyond one generation. The restoration promised to Israel includes their children, showing His purpose to preserve a people who know and serve Him. Parents were commanded to teach God’s words diligently to their children (Deuteronomy 6:4–9), yet the deepest faithfulness requires God’s transforming grace in every generation.

Isa 44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land,…
Jer 32:39-40 I will give them one heart and one way.…
Act 2:39 This promise belongs to you and your children…

and you will love Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

Love for the LORD is the central response of covenant life, fulfilling the command given in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5). Such love involves the whole person—desires, will, affections, and life itself—and becomes the source of willing obedience. Jesus affirmed this command as the greatest of all commandments (Matthew 22:37).

Deu 6:5 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart…
Mat 22:37 Jesus declared, ‘Love the Lord your God…
Mrk 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart…

so that you may live.

Life in the land depended upon Israel’s covenant faithfulness, but the promise reaches beyond physical preservation and prosperity. True life is found in fellowship with the living God, whose saving work turns sinners from death to wholehearted love and obedience. Jesus identified eternal life as knowing the Father and the Son whom He sent (John 17:3).

Deu 5:33 You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God…
Lev 18:5 Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who…
Pro 4:4 he taught me and said, “Let your heart lay hold of my words;…

Persons / Places / Events
1. The LORD (Yahweh)
The covenant-keeping God of Israel, who promises to transform the hearts of His people.

2. Israelites
The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom Moses is speaking in Deuteronomy.

3. Moses
The leader and prophet who delivers God's law and promises to the Israelites.

4. Promised Land
The land of Canaan, which God promised to the descendants of Abraham.

5. Circumcision of the Heart
A metaphorical expression indicating a spiritual transformation and renewal.
Teaching Points
Spiritual Transformation
The circumcision of the heart signifies a deep, internal change that only God can perform. It is a call to seek a genuine relationship with God, beyond mere external observance.

Love and Obedience
Loving God with all your heart and soul is the essence of true obedience. This love is a response to God's transformative work in our lives.

Generational Faithfulness
The promise extends to the descendants, highlighting the importance of passing down faith and spiritual values to future generations.

Life in God
The phrase "so that you may live" underscores that true life is found in a relationship with God, characterized by love and obedience.

Dependence on God
Recognize that spiritual renewal is initiated and completed by God. Our role is to be open and responsive to His work in our hearts.
Bible Study Questions
1. What does the metaphor of "circumcision of the heart" mean in the context of Deuteronomy 30:6, and how does it apply to our spiritual lives today?

2. How does the promise of heart transformation in Deuteronomy 30:6 relate to the New Covenant described in Jeremiah 31:31-34?

3. In what ways can we ensure that our love for God encompasses all our heart and soul, as described in this verse?

4. How can we actively participate in God's work of transforming our hearts, according to the teachings of Deuteronomy 30:6 and related scriptures?

5. What practical steps can we take to pass down a legacy of faith and spiritual renewal to the next generation, as implied in this passage?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Jeremiah 31:31-34
This passage speaks of the New Covenant, where God promises to write His law on the hearts of His people, similar to the heart transformation mentioned in Deuteronomy 30:6.

Ezekiel 36:26-27
God promises to give His people a new heart and spirit, echoing the heart circumcision theme.

Romans 2:28-29
Paul discusses the true circumcision being of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter of the law.

Philippians 3:3
Paul describes believers as the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus.
Sermons
CircumcisionC. T. Buchanan.Deuteronomy 30:6
Circumcision of HeartJ. Hill, M. A.Deuteronomy 30:6
The Circumcision of the HeartSketches of Four Hundred SermonsDeuteronomy 30:6
The True CircumcisionSpurgeon, Charles HaddonDeuteronomy 30:6
Divine Discipline Founded on Known PrincipleD. Davies Deuteronomy 30:1-10
Israel's RestorationJ. Orr Deuteronomy 30:1-10
The Restoration of the JewsR.M. Edgar Deuteronomy 30:1-10
People
Isaac, Jacob, Moses
Places
Jordan River, Moab
Topics
Circumcise, Circumcised, Circumcision, Descendants, Heart, Hearts, Love, Loving, Mayest, Moreover, Offspring, Sake, Seed, Soul
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Deuteronomy 30:6

     1085   God, love of
     5015   heart, and Holy Spirit
     5763   attitudes, positive to God
     7021   church, OT anticipations
     7336   circumcision, spiritual
     8208   commitment, to God

Deuteronomy 30:1-10

     6734   repentance, importance

Deuteronomy 30:1-16

     5376   law, purpose of

Library
June 30. "Therefore, Choose" (Deut. xxx. 19).
"Therefore, choose" (Deut. xxx. 19). Men are choosing every day the spiritual or earthly. And as we choose we are taking our place unconsciously with the friends of Christ, or the world. It is not merely what ye say, it is what we prefer. When Solomon made his great choice at Gibeon, God said to him, "Because this was in thine heart to ask wisdom, therefore will I give it unto thee, and all else besides that thou didst not choose." It was not merely that he said it because it was right to say, and …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

The Spirit of the Law
'For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. 12. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 13. Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? 14. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. 15. See, I have …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Love of God Its Own Reward
DEUT. xxx. 19, 20. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, 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 God sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give them. I spoke to you last Sunday on this text. But there is something …
Charles Kingsley—The Good News of God

The Blessing and the Curse.
Preached on Whit-Sunday. DEUT. XXX. 19, 20. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: 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 …
Charles Kingsley—Westminster Sermons

The Jewish World in the Days of Christ - the Jewish Dispersion in the East.
Among the outward means by which the religion of Israel was preserved, one of the most important was the centralisation and localisation of its worship in Jerusalem. If to some the ordinances of the Old Testament may in this respect seem narrow and exclusive, it is at least doubtful, whether without such a provision Monothsiem itself could have continued as a creed or a worship. In view of the state of the ancient world, and of the tendencies of Israel during the earlier stages of their history, …
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

Distinction Between Exterior and Interior Actions --Those of the Soul in this Condition are Interior, but Habitual, Continued, Direct, Profound, Simple, and Imperceptible --Being a Continual
The actions of men are either exterior or interior. The exterior are those which appear outwardly, and have a sensible object, possessing neither good nor evil qualities, excepting as they receive them from the interior principle in which they originate. It is not of these that I intend to speak, but only of interior actions, which are those actions of the soul by which it applies itself inwardly to some object, or turns away from some other. When, being applied to God, I desire to commit an …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved
PROPOSITION VI. According to which principle or hypothesis all the objections against the universality of Christ's death are easily solved; neither is it needful to recur to the ministry of angels, and those other miraculous means which they say God useth to manifest the doctrine and history of Christ's passion unto such, who, living in parts of the world where the outward preaching of the gospel is unknown, have well improved the first and common grace. For as hence it well follows that some of …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

Entering the Covenant: with all the Heart
"And they entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart, and all their soul."--2 CHRON. xv. 12 (see xxxiv. 31, and 2 Kings xxiii. 3). "The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul."--DEUT. xxx. 6. "And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall turn to Me with their whole heart."--JER. xxiv. 7 (see xxix. 13). …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Sanctification.
I. I will remind you of some points that have been settled in this course of study. 1. The true intent and meaning of the law of God has been, as I trust, ascertained in the lectures on moral government. Let this point if need be, be examined by reference to those lectures. 2. We have also seen, in those lectures, what is not, and what is implied in entire obedience to the moral law. 3. In those lectures, and also in the lectures on justification and repentance, it has been shown that nothing is …
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

"He is the Rock, his Work is Perfect, for all his Ways are Judgment, a God of Truth, and Without Iniquity, Just and Right is He.
Deut. xxxii. 4, 5.--"He is the Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment, a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children," &c. There are none can behold their own vileness as it is, but in the sight of God's glorious holiness. Sin is darkness, and neither sees itself, nor any thing else, therefore must his light shine to discover this darkness. If we abide within ourselves, and men like ourselves, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Disciple, -- Master, what are Heaven and Hell...
The Disciple,--Master, what are heaven and hell, and where are they? The Master,--1. Heaven and hell are the two opposite states in the spiritual realm. They have their origin in the heart of man and it is in this world that their foundations are laid. Since man cannot see his own spirit, so neither can he see these two states of the soul. But he has experience of them within him, just as he feels pain from a blow and perceives sweetness from eating sweetmeats. The wound caused by the blow may increase …
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit
"They shall be My people, and l will be their God. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me."--JER. xxxii. 38, 40. "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye …
Andrew Murray—The Two Covenants

Covenanting Confers Obligation.
As it has been shown that all duty, and that alone, ought to be vowed to God in covenant, it is manifest that what is lawfully engaged to in swearing by the name of God is enjoined in the moral law, and, because of the authority of that law, ought to be performed as a duty. But it is now to be proved that what is promised to God by vow or oath, ought to be performed also because of the act of Covenanting. The performance of that exercise is commanded, and the same law which enjoins that the duties …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

"Now the End of the Commandment is Charity Out of a Pure Heart, and a Good Conscience, and Faith Unfeigned. "
[It is extremely probable that this was one of the probationary discourses which the author delivered before the Presbytery of Glasgow, previous to his ordination. The following is an extract from the Record of that Presbytery: "Dec. 5, 1649. The qlk daye Mr. Hew Binnen made his popular sermon 1 Tim. i. ver. 5 'The end of ye commandment is charity.'--Ordaines Mr. Hew Binnen to handle his controversie this day fifteen dayes, De satisfactione Christi."--Ed.] 1 Tim. ii. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet
We shall now, in conclusion, give a survey of the third and closing discourse of the prophet. After an introduction in vi. 1, 2, where the mountains serve only to give greater solemnity to the scene (in the fundamental passages Deut. xxxii. 1, and in Is. 1, 2, "heaven and earth" are mentioned for the same purposes, inasmuch as they are the most venerable parts of creation; "contend with the mountains" by taking them in and applying to [Pg 522] them as hearers), the prophet reminds the people of …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Josiah, a Pattern for the Ignorant.
"Because thine heart was tender, and thou hast humbled thyself before the Lord, when thou heardest what I spake against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before Me; I also have heard thee, saith the Lord. Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all the evil which I will bring upon this place."--2 Kings …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The Blessings of Noah Upon Shem and Japheth. (Gen. Ix. 18-27. )
Ver. 20. "And Noah began and became an husbandman, and planted vineyards."--This does not imply that Noah was the first who began to till the ground, and, more especially, to cultivate the vine; for Cain, too, was a tiller of the ground, Gen. iv. 2. The sense rather is, that Noah, after the flood, again took up this calling. Moreover, the remark has not an independent import; it serves only to prepare the way for the communication of the subsequent account of Noah's drunkenness. By this remark, …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Right Understanding of the Law
Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.' Exod 20: 3. Before I come to the commandments, I shall answer questions, and lay down rules respecting the moral law. What is the difference between the moral laud and the gospel? (1) The law requires that we worship God as our Creator; the gospel, that we worship him in and through Christ. God in Christ is propitious; out of him we may see God's power, justice, and holiness: in him we see his mercy displayed. (2) The moral law requires obedience, but gives …
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

Commerce
The remarkable change which we have noticed in the views of Jewish authorities, from contempt to almost affectation of manual labour, could certainly not have been arbitrary. But as we fail to discover here any religious motive, we can only account for it on the score of altered political and social circumstances. So long as the people were, at least nominally, independent, and in possession of their own land, constant engagement in a trade would probably mark an inferior social stage, and imply …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Deuteronomy
Owing to the comparatively loose nature of the connection between consecutive passages in the legislative section, it is difficult to present an adequate summary of the book of Deuteronomy. In the first section, i.-iv. 40, Moses, after reviewing the recent history of the people, and showing how it reveals Jehovah's love for Israel, earnestly urges upon them the duty of keeping His laws, reminding them of His spirituality and absoluteness. Then follows the appointment, iv. 41-43--here irrelevant (cf. …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Deuteronomy 30:6 NIV
Deuteronomy 30:6 NLT
Deuteronomy 30:6 ESV
Deuteronomy 30:6 NASB
Deuteronomy 30:6 KJV

Deuteronomy 30:6 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Deuteronomy 30:5
Top of Page
Top of Page