Ulangan 7:1-2

The Dispossession of Nonvassals

7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, ¹  Girgashites, ²  Amorites, ³  Canaanites, ⁴  Perizzites, ⁵  Hivites, ⁶  and Jebusites, ⁷  seven ⁸  nations more numerous and powerful than you – 7:2 and he ⁹  delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate ¹⁰  them. Make no treaty ¹¹  with them and show them no mercy!

Yosua 10:42

10:42 Joshua captured in one campaign ¹²  all these kings and their lands, for the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel.

Yosua 21:43-45

21:43 So the Lord gave Israel all the land he had solemnly promised to their ancestors, ¹³  and they conquered ¹⁴  it and lived in it. 21:44 The Lord made them secure, ¹⁵  in fulfillment of all he had solemnly promised their ancestors. ¹⁶  None of their enemies could resist them. ¹⁷  21:45 Not one of the Lord’s faithful promises to the family of Israel ¹⁸  was left unfulfilled; every one was realized. ¹⁹ 

Yosua 24:11-12

24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. ²⁰  The leaders ²¹  of Jericho, as well as the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, fought with you, but I handed them over to you. 24:12 I sent terror ²²  ahead of you to drive out before you the two ²³  Amorite kings. I gave you the victory; it was not by your swords or bows. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 44:2-3

44:2 You, by your power, ²⁵  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²⁶ 

you crushed ²⁷  the people living there ²⁸  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ²⁹ 

44:3 For they did not conquer ³⁰  the land by their swords,

and they did not prevail by their strength, ³¹ 

but rather by your power, ³²  strength ³³  and good favor, ³⁴ 

for you were partial to ³⁵  them.

[7:1]  ¹ sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

[7:1]  ² sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).

[7:1]  ³ sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[7:1]  ⁴ sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

[7:1]  ⁵ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ⁶ sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

[7:1]  ⁷ sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).

[7:1]  ⁸ sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[7:2]  ¹⁰ tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”

[7:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”

[10:42]  ¹² tn Heb “at one time.”

[21:43]  ¹³ tn Heb “which he had sworn to give to their fathers.”

[21:43]  ¹⁴ tn Or “possessed.”

[21:44]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gave them rest all around.”

[21:44]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “according to all he swore to their fathers.”

[21:44]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “not a man stood from before them from all their enemies.”

[21:45]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the house of Israel.” Cf. NCV “the Israelites”; TEV “the people of Israel”; CEV, NLT “Israel.”

[21:45]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “not a word from all the good word which the Lord spoke to the house of Israel fell; the whole came to pass.”

[24:11]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[24:11]  ²¹ tn Or perhaps, “citizens.”

[24:12]  ²² tn Traditionally, “the hornet” (so KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV) but the precise meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain (cf. NEB “panic”).

[24:12]  ²³ tn The LXX has “twelve,” apparently understanding this as a reference to Amorite kings west of the Jordan (see Josh 5:1, rather than the trans-Jordanian Amorite kings Sihon and Og (see Josh 2:10; 9:10).

[24:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and it drove them out from before you, the two kings of the Amorites, not by your sword and not by your bow.” The words “I gave you the victory” are supplied for clarification.

[44:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ²⁷ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[44:3]  ³⁰ tn Or “take possession of.”

[44:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.

[44:3]  ³² tn Heb “your right hand.” The Lord’s “right hand” here symbolizes his power to protect and deliver (see Pss 17:7; 20:6; 21:8).

[44:3]  ³³ tn Heb “your arm.”

[44:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[44:3]  ³⁵ tn Or “favorable toward.”