Deuteronomy 7:6-16

6 "For you are 1a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be 2a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
7 "3The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the 4oath which He swore to your forefathers, 5the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 "Know therefore that the LORD your God, 6He is God, 7the faithful God, 8who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who 9love Him and keep His commandments;
10 but 10repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.
11 "Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

Promises of God

12 "11Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness which He swore to your forefathers.
13 "He will 12love you and bless you and 13multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you.
14 "You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female 14barren among you or among your cattle.
15 "15The LORD will remove from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.
16 "You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; 16your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be 17a snare to you.

Deuteronomy 7:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 7

In this chapter the Israelites are exhorted to destroy the seven nations of the land of Canaan, when they entered into it, and to make no alliances with them of any kind, nor suffer any remains of idolatry to continue, De 7:1-5 to observe which, and other commands of God, they are urged from the consideration of their being freely chosen of God above all other people, and of their being redeemed out of the house of bondage, and of the Lord's being a covenant keeping God to them, De 7:6-11 and it is promised them, for their further encouragement to keep the commands of God, that they should have an increase of all temporal good things, and no evils and calamities should come upon them, De 6:12-16, and, lest they should be disheartened at the numbers and might of their enemies, they are put in mind of what God had done for them in Egypt, and of what he had promised to do for them now, De 7:17-20 and they are assured that the nations should be cast out before them by little and little, until they were utterly destroyed, De 7:21-24 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to destroy their images, and not admit anything of that sort to be brought into their houses, De 7:25,26.

Cross References 17

  • 1. Exodus 19:6; Deuteronomy 14:2, 21; Psalms 50:5; Jeremiah 2:3
  • 2. Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 26:18; Psalms 135:4; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9
  • 3. Deuteronomy 4:37
  • 4. Exodus 32:13
  • 5. Exodus 13:3
  • 6. Deuteronomy 4:35, 39
  • 7. Isaiah 49:7; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Thessalonians 5:24; 2 Timothy 2:13
  • 8. Exodus 20:6; Daniel 9:4
  • 9. Deuteronomy 5:10
  • 10. Isaiah 59:18; Nahum 1:2
  • 11. Leviticus 26:3-13; Deuteronomy 28:1-14
  • 12. Psalms 146:8; Proverbs 15:9; John 14:21
  • 13. Leviticus 26:9; Deuteronomy 13:17; Deuteronomy 30:5
  • 14. Exodus 23:26
  • 15. Exodus 15:26
  • 16. Deuteronomy 7:2
  • 17. Exodus 23:33; Judges 8:27; Psalms 106:36

Footnotes 11

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.