You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
Parallel translations
- WEB If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”
- KJV If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
- NKJV “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’—
- NASB “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’
- NLT Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’
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
Israel may feel the nations are too many to dispossess. Moses anticipates fear in the face of a daunting task.
Overview
Moses gives voice to the heart's natural doubt when confronting a stronger enemy. Rather than rebuke the fear outright, he prepares to redirect it to faith in God. This honest acknowledgment sets up a call to remember God's past faithfulness as the cure for present anxiety.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Num 33:53You are to take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given you the land to possess.
- Num 13:32So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: “The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature.
- Josh 17:16–18“The hill country is not enough for us,” they replied, “and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both in Beth-shean with its towns and in the Valley of Jezreel.”
- Deut 18:21You may ask in your heart, “How can we recognize a message that the LORD has not spoken?”
- Isa 49:21Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”
- Isa 14:13You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
- Deut 15:9Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought in your heart: “The seventh year, the year of release, is near,” so that you look upon your poor brother begrudgingly and give him nothing. He will cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Deut 8:17You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.”
- Luke 9:47But Jesus, knowing the thoughts of their hearts, had a little child stand beside Him.
- Isa 47:8So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’
- Jer 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
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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 7:17 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.