I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
- KJV I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
- BSB I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
- NKJV “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
- NLT “I will send my terror ahead of you and create panic among all the people whose lands you invade. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
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
God would send terror ahead of Israel to confuse their enemies and put them to flight. Victory comes from the fear God instills, not Israel's force.
Overview
The promise of divine 'terror' going before Israel shows that God Himself fights for His people, demoralizing their foes before battle. This recalls how nations melted in fear after the exodus and the Red Sea. The conquest is portrayed as a holy work in which God grants the victory. It assures believers that the Lord can disarm every opposing power, as He has triumphed over sin and death in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Deut 2:25Today I will begin to put the dread of you and the fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole sky, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of you.”
- Gen 35:5They traveled, and a terror of God was on the cities that were around them, and they didn’t pursue the sons of Jacob.
- Deut 11:25No man will be able to stand before you. Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you tread on, as he has spoken to you.
- Deut 7:23But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed.
- Exod 15:14–16The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
- Ps 18:40You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.
- 1 Sam 14:15There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the raiders, also trembled; and the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling.
- 2 Kgs 7:6For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians to hear the sound of chariots, and the sound of horses, even the noise of a great army; and they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us.”
- 2 Chr 14:14They struck all the cities around Gerar; for the fear of Yahweh came on them, and they plundered all the cities; for there was much plunder in them.
- Deut 11:23then will Yahweh drive out all these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
- Josh 2:9–11She said to the men, “I know that Yahweh has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 23:27 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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