For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
Parallel translations
- KJV For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
- BSB When the Canaanites and all who live in the land hear about this, they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”
- NKJV For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”
- NASB For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear about it, and they will surround us and eliminate our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?”
- NLT For when the Canaanites and all the other people living in the land hear about it, they will surround us and wipe our name off the face of the earth. And then what will happen to the honor of your great name?”
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
Joshua feared the Canaanites would hear, surround Israel, and wipe out their name, and he appealed to God's own great name. His deepest concern was for God's reputation among the nations.
Overview
Joshua's intercession rises above mere survival to a concern for God's glory: if Israel perished, what would become of the Lord's name? This God-centered plea, like Moses' intercessions, appeals to God's commitment to His own honor. It models prayer that aligns our desires with God's purpose to be glorified among the nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Exod 32:12Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
- Ezek 36:22–23Therefore tell the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, where you went.
- Ps 83:4“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
- John 12:28Father, glorify your name!” Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
- Ps 124:2–3if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us;
- Num 14:13Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
- Joel 2:17Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
- Deut 9:28lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
- Ezek 20:9But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
- Deut 32:26–27I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men;
- Ps 106:6–8We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly.
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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 7:9 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.