If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
Parallel translations
- WEB If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”
- BSB You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
- 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 33:53And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it.
- Num 13:32And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.
- Josh 17:16–18And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Bethshean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel.
- Deut 18:21And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?
- Isa 49:21Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
- Isa 14:13For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
- Deut 15:9Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee.
- Deut 8:17And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
- Luke 9:47And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him,
- Isa 47:8Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
- Jer 13:22And if thou say in thine heart, Wherefore come these things upon me? For the greatness of thine iniquity are thy skirts discovered, and thy heels made bare.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.