Deuteronomy 30:2 (ASV)

Passage

and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 30:1 And it shall come to pass, when all these things are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither Jehovah thy God hath driven thee,

Deuteronomy 30:2 and shalt return unto Jehovah thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul;

Deuteronomy 30:3 that then Jehovah thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the peoples, whither Jehovah thy God hath scattered thee.

Deuteronomy 30:4 If [any of] thine outcasts be in the uttermost parts of heaven, from thence will Jehovah thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "shalt", "return", "jehovah", "obey", "voice", "command", and "thee". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "shalt" and "return", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And it shall come to pass when..." into verse 3's "that then Jehovah thy God will turn...", so "shalt" and "return" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "shalt" and "return" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.