So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
- KJV And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.
- NKJV So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
- NASB So Israel made a vow to the Lord and said, “If You will indeed hand over this people to me, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”
- NLT Then the people of Israel made this vow to the Lord: “If you will hand these people over to us, we will completely destroy all their towns.”
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 vowed to the Lord that if He gave victory, they would utterly destroy the enemy cities. The people responded to attack with a vow of devotion to God.
Overview
Rather than despairing, Israel turns to the Lord and pledges to devote the conquered cities to Him as 'herem,' wholly given over to destruction. This vow recognizes that victory comes from God and belongs to Him. The act of devoting the cities reflects God's judgment on Canaanite wickedness, executed through His covenant people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Gen 28:20Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Judg 11:30Jephthah made this vow to the LORD: “If indeed You will deliver the Ammonites into my hand,
- Josh 6:26At that time Joshua invoked this solemn oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho; at the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
- 1 Sam 1:11And she made a vow, pleading, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever come over his head.”
- Ps 132:2how he swore an oath to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
- 2 Sam 15:7–8After four years had passed, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron to fulfill a vow I have made to the LORD.
- Deut 13:15you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.
- Ps 56:12–13Your vows are upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You.
- Lev 27:28–29Nothing that a man sets apart to the LORD from all he owns—whether a man, an animal, or his inherited land—can be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD.
- Ps 116:18I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people,
- Josh 6:17Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.
- 1 Cor 16:22If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be under a curse. Come, O Lord!
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 21:2 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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