Ulangan 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹  by describing people who are more numerous ²  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ³  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁴  Anakites ⁵  there.”

Ulangan 1:44

1:44 The Amorite inhabitants of that area ⁶  confronted ⁷  you and chased you like a swarm of bees, striking you down from Seir as far as Hormah. ⁸ 

Ulangan 4:38

4:38 to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. ⁹ 

Ulangan 5:25

5:25 But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die!

Ulangan 7:1

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, ¹⁰  Girgashites, ¹¹  Amorites, ¹²  Canaanites, ¹³  Perizzites, ¹⁴  Hivites, ¹⁵  and Jebusites, ¹⁶  seven ¹⁷  nations more numerous and powerful than you –

Ulangan 7:7

The Basis of Israel’s Election

7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you – for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples.

Ulangan 7:14

7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness ¹⁸  among you or your livestock.

Ulangan 7:17

7:17 If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I – how can I dispossess them?”

Ulangan 7:22

7:22 He, ¹⁹  the God who leads you, will expel the nations little by little. You will not be allowed to destroy them all at once lest the wild animals overrun you.

Ulangan 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ²⁰ 

Ulangan 9:14

9:14 Stand aside ²¹  and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, ²²  and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.”

Ulangan 10:17

10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe,

Ulangan 11:23

11:23 then he ²³  will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.

Ulangan 17:20

17:20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom ²⁴  in Israel.

Ulangan 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ²⁵  and troops ²⁶  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Ulangan 25:3

25:3 The judge ²⁷  may sentence him to forty blows, ²⁸  but no more. If he is struck with more than these, you might view your fellow Israelite ²⁹  with contempt.

Ulangan 30:5

30:5 Then he ³⁰  will bring you to the land your ancestors ³¹  possessed and you also will possess it; he will do better for you and multiply you more than he did your ancestors.

[1:28]  ¹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

[1:28]  ³ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

[1:28]  sn Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).

[1:44]  ⁶ tn Heb “in that hill country,” repeating the end of v. 43.

[1:44]  ⁷ tn Heb “came out to meet.”

[1:44]  ⁸ sn Hormah is probably Khirbet el-Meshash, 5.5 mi (9 km) west of Arad and 7.5 mi (12 km) SE of Beer Sheba. Its name is a derivative of the verb חָרָם (kharam, “to ban; to exterminate”). See Num 21:3.

[4:38]  ⁹ tn Heb “(as) an inheritance,” that is, landed property that one can pass on to one’s descendants.

[7:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[7:1]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[7:14]  ¹⁸ sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very Hebrew word used here (עֲקָרָה, ’aqarah), an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.

[7:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 7:19.

[9:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[9:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “leave me alone.”

[9:14]  ²² tn Heb “from under heaven.”

[11:23]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[17:20]  ²⁴ tc Heb “upon his kingship.” Smr supplies כִּסֵא (kise’, “throne”) so as to read “upon the throne of his kingship.” This overliteralizes what is a clearly understood figure of speech.

[20:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

[20:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “people.”

[25:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the judge) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Forty blows he may strike him”; however, since the judge is to witness the punishment (v. 2) it is unlikely the judge himself administered it.

[25:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your brothers” but not limited only to an actual sibling; cf. NAB) “your kinsman”; NRSV, NLT “your neighbor.”

[30:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on the second occurrence of the word “he” in v. 3.

[30:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “fathers” (also later in this verse and in vv. 9, 20).