One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
Parallel translations
- WEB One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.
- BSB One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised.
- NKJV One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.
- NASB One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the Lord your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you.
- NLT Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised.
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
One Israelite could rout a thousand because Yahweh fought for them. It magnifies God's power on behalf of His people.
Overview
Joshua highlights the lopsided victories God granted, where a single man could chase a thousand. The point is clear: the strength was the Lord's, not Israel's. This assurance of divine help encourages faith and dependence rather than self-reliance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Deut 32:30How 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?
- 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.
- Deut 3:22Ye shall not fear them: for the LORD your God he shall fight for you.
- Exod 14:14The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
- Ps 35:1Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
- Deut 20:4For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
- Rom 8:31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
- Ps 46:7The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Josh 23:3And ye have seen all that the LORD your God hath done unto all these nations because of you; for the LORD your God is he that hath fought for you.
- Ps 44:4–5Thou art my King, O God: command deliverances for Jacob.
- 1 Sam 14:6And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armour, Come, and let us go over unto the garrison of these uncircumcised: it may be that the LORD will work for us: for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few.
- Josh 10:42And all these kings and their land did Joshua take at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel.
- Exod 23:27–33I 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.
- Judg 15:15And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
- 2 Sam 23:8These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite: he lift up his spear against eight hundred, whom he slew at one time.
- Judg 7:19–22So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.
- Judg 3:31And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.
- 1 Sam 14:12–16And the men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armourbearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will shew you a thing. And Jonathan said unto his armourbearer, Come up after me: for the LORD hath delivered them into the hand of Israel.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Joshua — the same name as Jesus, 'the LORD saves' — leads God's people into their inheritance, a shadow of the greater Joshua who brings us into the true rest and the promised land that remains.
How Joshua 23:10 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.