How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
Parallel translations
- WEB How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
- BSB How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- NKJV How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had surrendered them?
- NASB “How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had given them up?
- NLT How could one person chase a thousand of them, and two people put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the Lord had given them up?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Their defeats prove that their Rock had sold them and the LORD had handed them over. It matters because it shows that Israel's losses come from God's withdrawal, not the enemy's strength.
Overview
The rhetorical question about one routing a thousand reveals that supernatural defeat must have a divine cause. Only God's giving them up could explain such reversals. This underscores that Israel's true security was always in God, not in numbers, pointing to the One who alone is the Rock of His people's salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Lev 26:8And five of you shall chase an hundred, and an hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
- Josh 23:10One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
- Isa 30:17One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.
- Ps 31:8And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.
- Judg 7:22–23And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.
- Ps 44:12Thou sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price.
- 1 Sam 14:15–17And there was trembling in the host, in the field, and among all the people: the garrison, and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked: so it was a very great trembling.
- Isa 52:3For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and ye shall be redeemed without money.
- 2 Chr 24:24For the army of the Syrians came with a small company of men, and the LORD delivered a very great host into their hand, because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash.
- Judg 3:8Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.
- Judg 2:14And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
- Job 11:10If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?
- Isa 50:1Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
- Job 16:11God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
- Matt 18:25But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 32:30 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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