“So the children went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hands, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they pleased.
Parallel translations
- KJV So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the people of the land, that they might do with them as they would.
- BSB So their descendants went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land. You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land, to do with them as they wished.
- NKJV So the people went in And possessed the land; You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, The Canaanites, And gave them into their hands, With their kings And the people of the land, That they might do with them as they wished.
- NASB “So their sons entered and took possession of the land. And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You handed them over to them, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired.
- NLT “They went in and took possession of the land. You subdued whole nations before them. Even the Canaanites, who inhabited the land, were powerless! Your people could deal with these nations and their kings as they pleased.
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
The children went in, possessed the land, and God subdued its inhabitants before them. It matters because the conquest was God's gift, not merely Israel's achievement.
Overview
Israel took the land because God 'subdued' its peoples and kings before them, giving them into Israel's hand. The victory was fundamentally God's doing. This stresses that salvation and inheritance come by God's power and grace, a pattern fulfilled in the triumph Christ wins for his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Josh 21:43So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.
- Ps 44:2–3You drove out the nations with your hand, but you planted them. You afflicted the peoples, but you spread them abroad.
- Josh 11:23So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. The land had rest from war.
- Josh 18:1The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land was subdued before them.
- Num 14:31But your little ones, that you said should be captured or killed, them I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have rejected.
- 1 Chr 22:18“Isn’t Yahweh your God with you? Hasn’t he given you rest on every side? For he has delivered the inhabitants of the land into my hand; and the land is subdued before Yahweh, and before his people.
- Josh 21:45Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.
- 2 Tim 2:26and they may recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him to his will.
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Christ at the center
The rebuilt walls and renewed covenant community foreshadow the greater builder who gathers and secures a people for God, the one who declares 'I will build my church.'
How Nehemiah 9:24 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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