The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Promises of God
Deuteronomy 7:12–26 — The Promises of God. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
12If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·hā·yāh ‘ê·qeḇ tiš·mə·‘ūn ’êṯ hā·’êl·leh ham·miš·pā·ṭîm ū·šə·mar·tem wa·‘ă·śî·ṯem ’ō·ṯām Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā lə·ḵā ’eṯ- wə·šā·mar hab·bə·rîṯ wə·’eṯ- ha·ḥe·seḏ ’ă·šer niš·ba‘ la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-it-shall-come-to-pass, as-a-consequence (you-will-listen-to) these the-ordinances, and-you-keep and-you-do them — that YHWH your-God will-keep for-you the-covenant and-the-loving-devotion that he-swore to-your-fathers."
Where the English smooths the original
The Hebrew word represented by "wherefore" in the Authorized Version ( עֵקֶב , from עָקֵב , the heel) denotes that which comes after, the end or last of anything ( Psalm 119:33, 112 ), hence recompense, reward, wages, as the end or result of acting
In עקב, for אשׁר עקב ( Genesis 22:18 ), there is involved not only the idea of reciprocity, but everywhere also an allusion to reward or punishment
This covenant is grounded in his free grace: therefore in recompensing their obedience, he respects his mercy and not their merits.
The covenant of mercy or grace, which he out of his own mere grace made with them. A figure called hendiaduo .Poole names the figure (hendiadys): "covenant" + "mercy" = one idea, "the covenant of mercy."
13He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wa·’ă·hê·ḇə·ḵā ū·ḇê·raḵ·ḵā wə·hir·be·ḵā ū·ḇê·raḵ pə·rî- ḇiṭ·nə·ḵā ū·p̄ə·rî- ’aḏ·mā·ṯe·ḵā də·ḡā·nə·ḵā wə·ṯî·rō·šə·ḵā wə·yiṣ·hā·re·ḵā šə·ḡar- ’ă·lā·p̄e·ḵā wə·‘aš·tə·rōṯ ṣō·ne·ḵā ‘al hā·’ă·ḏā·māh ’ă·šer- niš·ba‘ la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā lā·ṯeṯ lāḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-he-will-love you and-bless you and-multiply you; and-he-will-bless the-fruit-of your-womb and-the-fruit-of your-ground, your-grain and-your-new-wine and-your-fresh-oil, the-offspring-of your-cattle and-the-Ashtaroth-of your-flock, upon the-ground that he-swore to-your-fathers to-give to-you."
Where the English smooths the original
bless and multiply ; note the characteristic addition love by D. The blessings which follow are material
The Hebrew word for "ewes" is the plural form of Ashtoreth, the well-known name of the "goddess of the Zidonians" 1 Kings 11:5 . This goddess, called by the Classical writers "Astarte," and identified with "Venus," represented the fruitfulness of nature.
This mercy flowed from the love of God to Israel, and the love was manifested in blessing and multiplying the people.
Literally rendered, it is the Astartes (Ashtaroth) of thy sheep .
14You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
tih·yeh bā·rūḵ mik·kāl hā·‘am·mîm ḇə·ḵā yih·yeh lō- ‘ā·qār wa·‘ă·qā·rāh ū·ḇiḇ·hem·te·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"Blessed you-will-be above-all the-peoples; there-will-not-be among-you barren-male or-barren-female, nor-among-your-livestock."
Where the English smooths the original
All people. —Literally, all the peoples: i.e., all other states and communities.
there shall not be male or female barren among you; which to be was reckoned a reproach, and the contrary a blessing, Luke 1:25 Psalm 128:3 .
not … barren ] Exodus 23:26 (edit.); cp. above on Deuteronomy 7:13 .
15And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh wə·hê·sîr mim·mə·ḵā kāl- ḥō·lî lō yə·śî·mām bāḵ wə·ḵāl hā·rā·‘îm maḏ·wê ’ă·šer yā·ḏa‘·tā miṣ·ra·yim ū·nə·ṯā·nām bə·ḵāl śō·nə·’e·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-he-will-turn-aside YHWH from-you all sickness; and-all the-evil diseases-of-Egypt that you-knew, he-will-not-lay them on-you, but-he-will-give them on-all those-who-hate you."
Where the English smooths the original
Some of the associations of this word and the root from which it is derived would seem to point to those “languors” and “infirmities” which arise from neglect and violation of the laws of God, both moral and physical.
Diseases are God’s servants, which go where he sends them, and do what he bids them.
It is not without significance that Egypt, which represents in Scripture the world as contrasted with the Church, should thus above other lands lie under the power of disease and death.
that country has some indigenous maladies which are very malignant, such as ophthalmia, dysentery, smallpox, and the plague.
16You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·’ā·ḵal·tā ’eṯ- kāl- hā·‘am·mîm ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lāḵ lō- ‘ê·nə·ḵā ‘ă·lê·hem ṯā·ḥōs wə·lō ṯa·‘ă·ḇōḏ ’eṯ- ’ĕ·lō·hê·hem kî- hū mō·w·qêš lāḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-you-shall-consume all the-peoples that YHWH your-God is-giving to-you; your-eye shall-not-pity upon-them; and-you-shall-not-serve their-gods, for a snare it-[will-be] to-you."
Where the English smooths the original
When delivered to Israel, they are delivered for execution; but the time of delivery is in the hand of Jehovah. (Comp. the words of Caleb and Joshua in Numbers 14:9 : “ They are bread for us: their shadow is departed from them, and the Lord is with us.”)
Unless they consumed them as one consumes food, they would be a snare to them, by tempting them to join in their idolatry.
We should not be merciful when God commands severity.Geneva's marginal gloss on "thine eye shall have no pity." A hard saying preserved verbatim, not softened.
17You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî ṯō·mar bil·ḇā·ḇə·ḵā hā·’êl·leh hag·gō·w·yim rab·bîm mim·men·nî ’ê·ḵāh ’ū·ḵal lə·hō·w·rî·šām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"If you-say in-your-heart: 'Many [are] these the-nations more-than-I; how can-I dispossess-them?'"
Where the English smooths the original
Should have secret thoughts arise in the heart, misgivings of heart, fears and doubts there, which, though not outwardly expressed, might be inwardly retained
say in thine heart ] say to thyself , or think , or imagine ; but with the force of really think , Deuteronomy 9:4 , Deuteronomy 18:21 .
The thought might rise in their minds, How can we ever compete with nations so much more powerful than we? But such thoughts they must repress, remembering what God had done for them
18But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ṯî·rā mê·hem zā·ḵōr tiz·kōr ’êṯ ’ă·šer- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ‘ā·śāh lə·p̄ar·‘ōh ū·lə·ḵāl- miṣ·rā·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"You-shall-not fear from-them; remembering you-shall-remember what YHWH your-God did to-Pharaoh and-to-all Egypt —"
Where the English smooths the original
No free nation could ever have the same ground for terror as a nation of slaves rising up against its masters. If Israel had been delivered by Jehovah in that position, it was a security for all time that He would give them the victory in every enterprise He called them to undertake.
Well remember, Heb. remembering remember , i.e. remember it frequently, considerately, practically, and for thy encouragement; for men are said to forget those things which they do not remember to good purpose.
To suppress the thought that was rising up in their heart, how could it be possible for them to destroy these nations which were more numerous than they, the Israelites were to remember what the Lord had done in Egypt and to Pharaoh
19the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
hag·gə·ḏō·lōṯ ham·mas·sōṯ ’ă·šer- ‘ê·ne·ḵā rā·’ū wə·hā·’ō·ṯōṯ wə·ham·mō·p̄ə·ṯîm ha·ḥă·zā·qāh wə·hay·yāḏ han·nə·ṭū·yāh wə·haz·zə·rō·a‘ ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā hō·w·ṣi·’ă·ḵā Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ya·‘ă·śeh kên- lə·ḵāl hā·‘am·mîm ’ă·šer- ’at·tāh yā·rê mip·pə·nê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"the-great trials that your-eyes saw, and-the-signs and-the-wonders, and-the-mighty hand and-the-outstretched arm, by-which YHWH your-God brought-you-out — so YHWH your-God will-do to-all the-peoples of-whom you [are] afraid."
Where the English smooths the original
The several repetitions of the summons to Pharaoh that he should let Israel go, accompanied and enforced by plagues, may well be called “temptations” in the sense of trials of his character. The word “temptation” in the sense of “inducement to sin” is very rare, if not absolutely wanting, in the Old Testament.
so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid; not perform the same miraculous operations among them, but exert the same power in the destruction of them
the great temptations, signs, and wonders connected with their deliverance from Egypt (cf. Deuteronomy 4:34 and Deuteronomy 6:22 ). He would do just the same to the Canaanites.
20Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḡam Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’eṯ- yə·šal·laḥ haṣ·ṣir·‘āh bām ‘aḏ- han·niš·’ā·rîm wə·han·nis·tā·rîm mip·pā·ne·ḵā ’ă·ḇōḏ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-also the-hornet YHWH your-God will-send against-them, until the-ones-remaining and-the-ones-hiding-themselves from-before-you have-perished."
Where the English smooths the original
The hornet. —To be understood literally. (See on Deuteronomy 1:44 , and Joshua 24:12 .) The “land flowing with (milk and) honey” may well have swarmed with bees and hornets.
There is not a creature so small, that I will not arm it to fight on your side against them.
it may be doubted if the statement here is to be understood literally, and not rather figuratively, as expressive of many and varied evils with which the fugitive Canaanites were to be visited until they were extirpatedThe Pulpit reads the hornet figuratively against Ellicott's literal reading — a genuine PD disagreement, left unresolved.
21Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ṯa·‘ă·rōṣ mip·pə·nê·hem kî- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā bə·qir·be·ḵā gā·ḏō·wl wə·nō·w·rā ’êl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"You-shall-not be-terrified from-before-them, for YHWH your-God [is] in-your-midst, a-God great and-terrible."
Where the English smooths the original
for the Lord thy God is among you: in the tabernacle, in the holy of holies, which was in the midst of them, and besides would give proof of his powerful presence among them, in protecting them, and destroying their enemies: a mighty God and terrible; mighty to save his people, and terrible to others.
great God and … terrible ] Cp. Deuteronomy 10:17 , Deuteronomy 28:58 , the same epithets
Israel had no need to be afraid of them, as Jehovah was in the midst of it a mighty God and terrible.
22The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’eṯ- wə·nā·šal hā·’êl hag·gō·w·yim mip·pā·ne·ḵā mə·‘aṭ mə·‘āṭ lō ṯū·ḵal kal·lō·ṯām ma·hêr pen- haś·śā·ḏeh ḥay·yaṯ tir·beh ‘ā·le·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-he-will-cast-out YHWH your-God these the-nations from-before-you little by-little; you-will-not be-able to-finish-them quickly, lest multiply against-you the-wild-animals of-the-field."
Where the English smooths the original
The word for “putting out” is illustrated by its use in Deuteronomy 19:5 , of the axe-head flying off from the handle in the midst of a blow, and of the olive “casting” his fruit in Deuteronomy 28:40 .
thou shalt destroy them by degrees, in several battles, that thou mayest learn by experience to put thy trust in me.
the unburied corpses of the enemy and the portions of the country that might have been left desolate for a while, would have drawn an influx of dangerous beasts. This evil would be prevented by a progressive conquestJFB supplies the naturalistic reason for the slow conquest — a depopulated land breeds wild beasts; the divine gradualism works through ordinary means.
Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but at length there will be a complete victory.Henry's note runs over the whole section 7:12-26; this clause applies the "little by little" of v. 22 to sanctification.
It is to your advantage that God does not accomplish his promise as soon as you would wish.
23But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ū·nə·ṯā·nām lə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā wə·hā·mām ḡə·ḏō·lāh mə·hū·māh ‘aḏ hiš·šā·mə·ḏām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-he-will-give-them YHWH your-God before-you, and-he-will-throw-them-into-confusion, a-great confusion, until they-are-destroyed."
Where the English smooths the original
discomfit ] an onomatopoetic word implying the confusion, turmoil, and panic of defeat, especially under Divine judgement.
But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee,.... Gradually, by little and little, until at length they should all come into their hands
would smite them with great confusion, till they were destroyed, as was the case for example at Gibeon ( Joshua 10:10 ; cf. Exodus 23:27 , where the form המם is used instead of הוּם)
24He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
mal·ḵê·hem wə·nā·ṯan bə·yā·ḏe·ḵā wə·ha·’ă·ḇaḏ·tā ’eṯ- šə·mām mit·ta·ḥaṯ haš·šā·mā·yim lō- ’îš yiṯ·yaṣ·ṣêḇ bə·p̄ā·ne·ḵā ‘aḏ hiš·miḏ·ḵā ’ō·ṯām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-he-will-give their-kings into-your-hand, and-you-will-make-perish their-name from-under the-heavens; no man will-stand before-you until you-have-destroyed them."
Where the English smooths the original
There shall no man be able to stand before thee. —A promise personally renewed to Joshua ( Joshua 1:5 ), and fulfilled to Israel under his command
This promise was conditional; they were to be obedient and perform their duty, and then it would be fulfilled; but if they neglected to do this, they would justly lose the benefit of it.
not only destroy the name of the reigning kings, so as that they should not be remembered and made mention of any more, but put an end to the name and race of kings among them, so that they should never have any more, as they never had
stand before thee ] Lit. keep himself standing to thy face , hold his post in face of thee
25You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
tiś·rə·p̄ūn bā·’êš pə·sî·lê ’ĕ·lō·hê·hem lō- ṯaḥ·mōḏ ke·sep̄ wə·zā·hāḇ ‘ă·lê·hem wə·lā·qaḥ·tā lāḵ pen tiw·wā·qêš bōw kî hū ṯō·w·‘ă·ḇaṯ Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"The-images-of their-gods you-shall-burn with-the-fire; you-shall-not covet the-silver and-gold [that-is] on-them, nor-take it for-yourself, lest you-be-ensnared by-it; for [it is] an-abomination to-YHWH your-God."
Where the English smooths the original
These words are a special warning against the sin which Achan committed ( Joshua 7:21 ): “I coveted them, and took them.” They also describe the consequences which he experienced, together with his whole household, being made chêrem.
Paul is probably alluding to this command in Romans 2:22 ; and his accusation of the Jew thus shows that the prohibition of the text was very necessary.Barnes asserts a NT link to Romans 2:22. The Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme (Greek↔Hebrew); the connection is thematic and is flagged below, not asserted as verbal.
silver and gold which had been used in connection with idolatrous worship was an abomination to Jehovah
26And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·lō- ṯā·ḇî ṯō·w·‘ê·ḇāh ’el- bê·ṯe·ḵā wə·hā·yî·ṯā kā·mō·hū ḥê·rem šaq·qêṣ tə·šaq·qə·ṣen·nū wə·ṯa·‘êḇ tə·ṯa·‘ă·ḇen·nū kî- hū ḥê·rem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
"And-you-shall-not bring an-abomination into your-house, and-you-become devoted-to-destruction like-it; detesting you-shall-detest it and-abhorring you-shall-abhor it, for devoted-to-destruction [is] it."
Where the English smooths the original
Lest thou be a cursed thing — Hebrew, חרם , cherem, devoted to utter destruction, as that and every thing was that had been employed to an idolatrous use.
Persons using or touching anything that was ḥerem or under the ban, themselves became ḥerem , cp. Joshua 6:18 ; Joshua 7:12 .
a thing devoted ( הֵרֶם ), either, as in this case, to destruction (comp. also 1 Kings 20:42 ; Zechariah 14:11 ; Malachi 3:24; [Malachi 4:6]) or, as elsewhere, to God ( Leviticus 27:21 ; Numbers 18:14 ).
what more exposes to the curse of God than idolatry, a breach of the firsExcerpt trails off as in the source ("the firs[t commandment]"); kept verbatim to the point provided.
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens on a hinge-word the English cannot hold. Where the BSB reads "If you listen," the Hebrew is עֵקֶב (‘êqeb) — literally the heel, then "what follows on the heel of," "reward." Keil & Delitzsch are exact: "in עקב there is involved not only the idea of reciprocity, but everywhere also an allusion to reward or punishment." The Pulpit Commentary agrees, glossing it "recompense, reward, wages, as the end or result of acting." So the verse reads as a contract — obedience, then payment. Yet the payment named is הַבְּרִית וְאֶת־הַחֶסֶד, "the covenant and the loving-devotion." Matthew Poole reads the pair as a hendiadys, "the covenant of mercy or grace, which he out of his own mere grace made with them," and the Geneva Study Bible draws the paradox tight: "in recompensing their obedience, he respects his mercy and not their merits." The wage of obedience turns out to be the sworn grace that preceded obedience. Then v. 13 lets the grace overflow into the body and the soil — and Deuteronomy stamps it with its own signature verb. The Cambridge Bible notes that on top of the old patriarchal formula "bless and multiply" (Genesis 22:17), here stands "the characteristic addition love by D." God loves, and the love is fertile: womb, grain, must, fresh oil, and — in a word the monotheistic text strangely keeps — the עַשְׁתְּרֹת, the "Ashtaroth of the flock." Barnes identifies it as the plural of the goddess who "represented the fruitfulness of nature"; the dead pagan name survives as plain Hebrew for "increase."
The blessing's reach is total: "there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle" (v. 14), reversing the very barrenness that haunted Sarah, Rebekah, and Rachel. Then v. 15 turns to sickness, and Matthew Henry's aphorism — which governs his note on the whole section — names the theology precisely: "Diseases are God's servants; they go where he sends them, and do what he bids them." The word for the maladies, מַדְוֵי (madveh), occurs only in Deuteronomy (here and 28:60), and the cure is stated in the verb נָתַן ("to give") — the same verb that gives the land (v. 13) and will give the enemy over (v. 23). What God withholds from His people He gives to their haters. Albert Barnes hears a type in the geography: "Egypt, which represents in Scripture the world as contrasted with the Church, should thus above other lands lie under the power of disease and death." And v. 16 names the people's task with brutal candor: וְאָכַלְתָּ, "you shall eat" them — the Pulpit's plain "eat, devour," the same verb K&D presses: Israel must "devour, i.e., exterminate, all the nations." The Geneva margin refuses to soften it: "We should not be merciful when God commands severity." The reason is the snare (מוֹקֵשׁ) — a hunter's noose. Whatever is not consumed will consume.
Now the text reaches into the heart. "If you say in your heart" (v. 17) — Cambridge insists this is not idle musing but to "really think," a fear entertained and half-believed: these nations are greater than I. The answer is memory, doubled in the Hebrew infinitive-absolute זָכֹר תִּזְכֹּר, "remembering you shall remember" — which Poole reads morally: men "are said to forget those things which they do not remember to good purpose." What must be remembered is the exodus — the מַסֹּת (trials), אֹתֹת (signs), מֹפְתִים (wonders), and the mighty hand and outstretched arm, the fixed Deuteronomic formula the Verifier ties verbally to Deuteronomy 4:34. Ellicott catches the logic of the slave-people: "No free nation could ever have the same ground for terror as a nation of slaves rising up against its masters," yet that very deliverance is "a security for all time." The crescendo of fear-words climbs — יָרֵא (v. 18) to עָרַץ (v. 21, "dread, shrink in terror") — and is answered by relocating fear to its rightful object: בְּקִרְבֶּךָ, "in your midst," stands אֵל גָּדוֹל וְנוֹרָא, "a God great and terrible" — nôrā’, from the same fear-root. The nations are not to be feared; the God among them is. Gill: "mighty to save his people, and terrible to others."
The conquest's pace is mercy. מְעַט מְעָט, "little by little" (v. 22) — and Geneva states the kindness in delay: "It is to your advantage that God does not accomplish his promise as soon as you would wish." Benson adds the pedagogy: God destroys them "by degrees, in several battles, that thou mayest learn by experience to put thy trust in me." The verb for the expulsion, נָשַׁל, is the word Ellicott illustrates with an axe-head slipping its handle and an olive casting its fruit — the nations shaken loose, not stormed. And the danger of too-fast conquest, "lest the beasts of the field multiply against you," repeats the warning of Exodus 23:29 — a link the Verifier records, though on common lexemes (pên, śāḏeh, ḥay), so it is a shared scene and clause rather than a rare-word quotation; JFB names the plain cause, that a half-emptied land would draw "an influx of dangerous beasts." Matthew Henry famously turns the whole gradualism inward: "corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but at length there will be a complete victory." Then God הָמַם the nations — Cambridge calls it "an onomatopoetic word implying the confusion, turmoil, and panic of defeat, especially under Divine judgement" — until even their kings' names perish from under heaven (v. 24). And the promise that "no man shall stand before you" Ellicott marks as the one "personally renewed to Joshua" at Joshua 1:5.
The chapter ends where idolatry's snare is finally sprung. The idol-images are to be burned; but the gold survives the fire, and that is the test. "You shall not חָמַד the silver and gold" — the verb of the tenth commandment, "you shall not covet." Charles Ellicott reads it forward into the conquest's first tragedy: these words are "a special warning against the sin which Achan committed: 'I coveted them, and took them'" (Joshua 7:21). Keep the abomination (תּוֹעֵבָה) and you become it: the snare-verb תִּוָּקֵשׁ (v. 25) springs the trap first set in v. 16. And v. 26 names the contagion in its technical term, חֵרֶם — Benson: "devoted to utter destruction." Cambridge spells out the logic the Verifier confirms by the shared rare root (linking this verse to Joshua 7's Achan): "Persons using or touching anything that was ḥerem or under the ban, themselves became ḥerem." The chapter that began by setting Israel apart (v. 6) ends by commanding it to hold the abomination apart — or share its doom. The two infinitive-absolutes seal it: detesting you shall detest, abhorring you shall abhor.
Read under Sola Scriptura — and offered as fallible, to be tested — chapter 7 is one sustained argument that election is grace from first to last, and that the wage-language of obedience never reverses that order. The opening עֵקֶב dangles "reward" before Israel, but the reward is the covenant of mercy God already swore to the fathers (v. 12). Obedience does not purchase the covenant; it walks inside it. The same hand that gives (nāṯan) the land, gives health, and gives the enemy over, is the hand that distributes everything — Israel is recipient, never earner. This reframes the unit's hardest edge. The command to "devour" the nations and the relentless ḥērem are not Israel's righteousness asserting itself; they are the same severity that chapter 28 will turn back on a faithless Israel by the very same verbs (the Verifier flags ’ābad, mahêr, šāmaḏ shared with Deuteronomy 28:20). The ban is no respecter of ethnicity — it is the judgment that falls on whatever is set against God, Canaanite or covenant-son. Hence the warning of v. 26 is the chapter's true center of gravity: Israel can become ḥērem by clutching the abomination. The deepest threat is never the army outside the wall but the snare carried across the threshold. And the deepest comfort is not Israel's sword but the nôrā’ God in their midst — fear correctly aimed. The whole apparatus, then, drives toward a single posture: not confidence in oneself, gained little by little, but trust in the One who gives, gradually, so that the people might learn (Benson) to lean wholly on Him.
The wage of obedience turns out to be the grace that came before it — Israel is paid in the covenant it was already given.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The fertility blessings of v. 13 — grain (dāgān), new wine (tîrôš), fresh oil (yiṣhār), the flock's increase, and the rare "Ashtaroth of the flock" (‘ashtᵉrâh, šeger) — recur almost word-for-word in Deuteronomy 28, but there as a curse on the disobedient: the enemy will eat them (28:51), they will be cursed (28:18), the womb will not bless (28:4). The rare vocabulary the Verifier isolates (‘ashtᵉrâh, 4 verses; šeger, 5 verses) ties the two chapters into one ledger: the same goods, given for obedience or stripped for rebellion. Cambridge already noticed the cross-reference. The link is verbal, on genuinely rare shared lexemes.
Deuteronomy 28:51 · Deuteronomy 28:4 · Deuteronomy 28:18
basis: rare shared Strong's lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H6251 ʻashtᵉrâh (in 4 vv), H7698 sheger (in 5 vv), with H504 ʼeleph, H3323 yitshâr, H8492 tîyrôwsh, H1715 dâgân, H6629 tsôʼn — the identical agricultural blessing-list, given here, withdrawn as curse in Deut 28
The exodus formula of v. 19 — the great trials (massôṯ), the signs (’ôṯ), the wonders (môp̄ēṯ), the mighty hand and outstretched arm — is Deuteronomy's fixed liturgy of remembrance, and it recurs verbatim at Deuteronomy 4:34 and 29:3. K&D and the Pulpit both cross-reference 4:34. The Verifier confirms the link on rare shared lexemes: massâh (4 verses) and môwphêth (35 verses), with the full "hand/arm" cluster. The point of the repetition is pastoral: every time fear rises, the same remembered words are set against it.
Deuteronomy 4:34 · Deuteronomy 29:3
basis: rare shared Strong's lexemes (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H4531 maççâh (in 4 vv), H4159 môwphêth (in 35 vv), with H226 ʼôwth, H2389 châzâq, H5186 nâṭâh, H2220 zᵉrôwaʻ — the fixed Deuteronomic exodus-recital formula
The promise that God will send the hornet (ṣirʻâh) against the nations (v. 20) appears only three times in Scripture, all clustered: here, in the older promise at Exodus 23:28, and in Joshua's retrospect, "I sent the hornet before you" (Joshua 24:12). Ellicott, Poole, and K&D all chain the three. The Verifier confirms the verbal link on the rare lexeme ṣirʻâh (3 verses). Whether the hornet is literal insect or figure for terror is left open by the PD voices themselves — Ellicott literal, the Pulpit figurative — and the cross-references do not decide it.
Exodus 23:28 · Joshua 24:12
basis: rare shared Strong's lexeme (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H6880 tsirʻâh (in only 3 vv) — Deut 7:20 / Exod 23:28 / Josh 24:12 are the entire biblical attestation of the hornet-promise
The corporate promise of v. 24, "no man will be able to stand (yāṣab) before you," is the very pledge personally renewed to Joshua at his commission: "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life" (Joshua 1:5). Ellicott names the link explicitly. The Verifier records a shared lexeme (yāṣab, 45 verses) but tiers it structural/thematic rather than verbal: the idiom is common enough that the link rests on the matching scene — conquest-assurance — more than on rare wording. The corporate "you" of the people becomes the singular "you" of their leader.
Joshua 1:5
basis: shared Strong's lexeme H3320 yâtsab ('to stand/hold one's ground,' 45 vv) plus the matching conquest-assurance scene; the lexeme is not rare enough to claim 'verbal' on its own, so tiered structural
The double prohibition of vv. 25–26 — do not covet the idol-gold, do not bring the abomination home, lest you become ḥērem — is the exact law Achan breaks at Jericho: "I coveted them, and took them… they are hidden in the earth inside my tent" (Joshua 7:21). Ellicott and Cambridge both name Achan. The Verifier confirms a link to Joshua 7:1 on the shared rare root ḥērem (31 verses), and Cambridge's logic — "persons touching anything that was ḥerem… themselves became ḥerem" — is precisely the curse Achan's household incurs. The narrative is the law's case study.
Joshua 7:1 · Joshua 7:21
basis: shared Strong's lexeme H2764 chêrem ('devoted/banned thing,' 31 vv); Deut 7:26 states the law (covet + house + become ḥērem), Josh 7 narrates its breach — thematic case-study link on the shared term, not a quotation
The closing command of v. 26 — "detesting you shall detest (šāqaṣ) it" — borrows its strongest verb of revulsion from the dietary-purity code. שָׁקַץ (šāqaṣ) is a rare word (6 verses), and three of its occurrences are the law of the unclean creatures in Leviticus 11: the swarming things one must "detest" (11:11, 13, 43). The Verifier confirms the verbal link on this rare lexeme. The effect is deliberate: idol-spoil is branded with the very loathing reserved for ritually unclean flesh, so that the covenant household feels toward the abomination what it feels toward a creeping thing — instinctive recoil. The ban (ḥērem) and the unclean (šeqeṣ) are pressed into one category of "do not bring it home."
Leviticus 11:11 · Leviticus 11:13 · Leviticus 11:43
basis: rare shared Strong's lexeme (Hebrew↔Hebrew): H8262 shâqats ('to detest, make abominable,' in only 6 vv); Deut 7:26 and Lev 11:11/13/43 share the same rare verb, transferring the purity-code's revulsion at unclean creatures onto idolatrous spoil
Because v. 24's "no man shall stand before you" is renewed to Joshua at Joshua 1:5, the apparatus must note where Joshua 1:5 itself travels in the New Testament. Hebrews 13:5 quotes "I will never leave you nor forsake you" — a line whose Old Testament source is debated among Deuteronomy 31:6/8, Joshua 1:5, and 1 Chronicles 28:20, with the Greek of Hebrews matching none of the LXX witnesses exactly. This is a cross-Testament link (Greek↔Hebrew), so by rule it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers and cannot be tiered "verbal." The quotation's provenance is genuinely contested; we record it flagged.
Joshua 1:5 · Hebrews 13:5 · Deuteronomy 31:6
basis: NT quotation (Heb 13:5) of a debated OT source — Deut 31:6/8, Josh 1:5, or 1 Chron 28:20; cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew) so no shared Strong's link is possible, and the Greek matches no single LXX witness; included per standing rule on Joshua 1:5 and on debated NT-quotation provenance
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
Verse 12 grounds every blessing not in Israel's obedience but in "the covenant and the loving-devotion (ḥeseḏ) that He swore to your fathers" — the oath of Genesis 22:16 to Abraham. Gill draws the line forward: this sworn mercy includes God's intent "to send the Messiah to them, and bring him the salvation of Israel out of Zion," citing Zechariah's son at Luke 1:68 — "the Lord… has redeemed his people, to remember his holy covenant, the oath he swore to our father Abraham." The same ḥeseḏ-and-oath structure that opens Deuteronomy 7 is the structure the Benedictus reads as fulfilled in Christ. This is the historic Christian reading of the patriarchal covenant.
Deuteronomy 7:12 · Luke 1:68
The leader to whom v. 24's promise is renewed (Joshua 1:5) bears the name Yᵉhôšuaʻ, "the LORD saves" — rendered in Greek Ἰησοῦς, Jesus (Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8). Hebrews 4:8 turns on exactly this: "if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day." The conquest of chapter 7 — the nations given over, the kings' names erased, no man standing — is a real but incomplete rest; the savior-named leader points past himself to the greater Joshua who gives the rest that remains. The typology is ancient, written into the Greek New Testament's own pun on the name.
Deuteronomy 7:24 · Hebrews 4:8
Barnes proposes that Paul alludes to v. 25's prohibition — do not covet the idol's gold — when he charges, "You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" (Romans 2:22). The connection is real as theology: the same coveting that snares Israel (and ruins Achan) exposes the hypocrite who loathes idols yet profits from them. But it must be held loosely: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek↔Hebrew), the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme, and Barnes himself writes only that Paul is "probably" alluding. We record it as a suggestive thematic resonance, not an established citation — the abomination one will not surrender remains the abomination one becomes, a line that runs from the ban to the cross, where the truly devoted-to-destruction thing was borne away (Galatians 3:13).
Deuteronomy 7:25 · Romans 2:22 · Galatians 3:13
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
This unit is Deuteronomy 7:12–26, the second half of chapter 7 (the input's id Deuteronomy_7-12 denotes chapter 7 beginning at v. 12, not chapters 7–12). All fifteen verses are Hebrew prose; there is no Greek layer here, so every Hebrew↔Hebrew thread above could in principle carry a verbal tier where the shared lexeme is rare, and every cross-Testament link (Romans 2:22, Hebrews 13:5) is barred by rule from "verbal" and tiered structural, typological, or flagged.
Honest limits worth flagging: (1) The hornet of v. 20 is read literally by Ellicott and figuratively by the Pulpit — the PD voices openly disagree, and the cross-references (Exodus 23:28; Joshua 24:12) confirm the word recurs but do not settle its sense; we have not resolved it. (2) Matthew Henry's note is a single block on the whole section 7:12–26, not verse-specific; excerpts attributed to particular verses are drawn from that block and apply by topic. (3) Barnes' Romans 2:22 connection is his own "probably," and the Verifier finds no lexical bridge; it is presented as resonance, not citation. (3a) The Exodus 23:29 "beasts of the field" link (v. 22) is real but tiered structural/thematic, not verbal: the Verifier's shared lexemes (pên, śāḏeh, ḥay) are common words, so the connection is a shared scene and clause, not a rare-word quotation. The genuinely verbal Hebrew↔Hebrew threads in this unit rest on rare lexemes — the Deut 28 blessing-list (‘ashtᵉrâh, šeger), the exodus-recital formula (maççâh, môwphêth), the hornet (ṣirʻâh), and the purity-code revulsion-verb (šāqaṣ, 6 vv, shared with Leviticus 11). (4) The Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 thread is included per standing directive because v. 24's promise is the one renewed at Joshua 1:5; the quotation's OT source is genuinely contested and is flagged accordingly. (5) The chapter's ethics of total destruction (ḥērem) are presented as the text presents them and read theologically under Sola Scriptura; the synthesis layer (⚙) is fallible commentary and carries no authority — weigh it against Scripture (Acts 17:11).
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)