Deuteronomy 7:9-19

9 [So] know that Yahweh your God, he [is] God, the trustworthy God, maintaining his covenant and his loyal love with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments to a thousand generations,

10 but repaying those who hate him {in their own person} to destroy them; he is not slow with those who hate him {in their own person}; he repays them.

11 And [so] you shall keep the commandment and the rules and the regulations that I [am] commanding you {today} to observe them.

12 "{And then} because you listen [to] these regulations and you diligently keep and you do them, then Yahweh your God will maintain his covenant and his loyal love that he swore to your ancestors.

13 And he will love you, and he will bless you, and he will multiply you, and he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your olive oil, and [newborn] calves of your cattle, and the [newborn] lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.

14 You shall be blessed more than all of the peoples; among you there shall not be sterility and bareness, even among domestic animals.

15 And Yahweh will turn away from you all the illness and all the harmful diseases of Egypt that you experienced; he will not lay them on you, but he will lay them on all [of] those who hate you.

16 And you shall devour all of the peoples [that] Yahweh your God [is] giving to you; {you shall not pity them}, and you shall not serve their gods, [which] will be a snare for you.

17 "If you think in your heart, 'These nations [are] more numerous than I, so how can I dispossess them?'

18 [then remember] you must not be afraid of them; you must well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all [of] Egypt:

19 the great trials that your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the [workings of] the strong hand and the outstretched arm [by] which Yahweh your God brought you out; so Yahweh your God will do to all [of] the peoples {because of whom} you [are] in fear {before them}.

Deuteronomy 7:9-19 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "the"
• [b]. Hebrew "the"
• [c]. Hebrew "generation"
• [d]. Hebrew "the one"
• [e]. Literally "to their faces"
• [f]. Hebrew "him"; "them" in sense
• [g]. Literally "to their faces"
• [h]. Hebrew "him"
• [i]. Literally "the day"
• [j]. Literally "And it will happen"
• [k]. Hebrew "the"
• [l]. Or "fathers"
• [m]. Or "fathers"
• [n]. Or "increase of"
• [o]. Or "fathers"
• [p]. Hebrew "and"
• [q]. Hebrew "animal"
• [r]. Literally "your eye shall not take pity on them"
• [s]. Literally "from them"
• [t]. Literally "from their presence"