1It shall happen, when all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2and return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3that then Yahweh your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 4If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. 5Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers. 6Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your offspring, to love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. 7Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8You shall return and obey Yahweh’s voice, and do all his commandments which I command you today. 9Yahweh your God will make you prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for good; for Yahweh will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers, 10if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
11For this commandment which I command you today is not too hard for you or too distant. 12It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who will go up for us to heaven, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 13Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us, bring it to us, and proclaim it to us, that we may do it?” 14But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. 15Behold, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and evil. 16For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways and to keep his commandments, 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. 17But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but 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 where you pass over the Jordan to go in to possess it. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your descendants, 20to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling 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.
Isaac was the son of promise to Abraham and Sarah, and the half-brother of Ishmael (who became the father of the Arab people) and the father of Esau (from whom came the Edomites) and Jacob. Isaac was born of a mother beyond childbearing age by a miracle of Yahweh, and was a focus of the testing of Abraham and Sarah, his parents.
The name Isaac means "to laugh, or he laughs," which is based on the response of Sarah to Yahweh's statement to Abraham that she was to bear a son. Sarah was hiding out of sight when this announcement was made by the Angel of Yahweh, and upon hearing this statement, she laughed, which she denied later before the angel. Such an idea was considered impossible but happened as promised by the heavenly visitor. Later, Abraham's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. He followed through with this command of God but received him back alive, since Yahweh kept him from doing so, declaring that now He knew by experience (see the meaning of Hebrew yada') that Abram did not withhold his son.
Later in Isaac's life, he married Rebekah, who bore him Jacob (biography) and Esau (his favorite), and was tricked by Jacob and Rebekah into giving his younger son Jacob his blessing.
Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah, a half-brother of Ishmael and father of Esau and Jacob. Isaac was born when both of his parents were very old, the circumstances surrounding his birth being a test of their faith. The meaning of Isaac's name (“he laughs”) is explained by the fact that Abraham laughed when he was told a son would be born to him at the age of a hundred. Abraham's faith was further tested when he was told to sacrifice Isaac but was stopped at the last moment from carrying out this instruction.
See also Biographies of Bible Characters, People and Characters in the Bible.