Deuteronomy 9:1

1 Hear thou, Israel; thou shalt pass (the) Jordan today, that thou wield the most nations, and stronger than thou; great cities, and walled till to heaven; (Hear, O Israel; thou shalt cross over the Jordan River today, to take over nations greater and stronger than thou; yea, great cities, that be walled unto the heavens;)

Deuteronomy 9:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 9:1

Hear, O Israel
A pause being made after the delivery of the preceding discourse; or perhaps what follows might be delivered at another time, at some little distance; and which being of moment and importance to the glory of God, and that Israel might have a true notion of their duty, they are called upon to listen with attention to what was now about to be said:

thou art to pass over Jordan this day;
not precisely that very day, but in a short time after this; for it was on the first day of the eleventh month that Moses began the repetition of the laws he was now going on with, ( Deuteronomy 1:3 ) , and it was not until the tenth day of the first month of the next year that the people passed over Jordan, ( Joshua 4:19 ) which was about two months after this:

to go in and possess nations greater and mightier than thyself;
the seven nations named ( Deuteronomy 7:1 ) where the same characters are given of them:

cities great and fenced up to heaven;
as they were said to be by the spies, ( Deuteronomy 1:28 ) , and were no doubt both large and strongly fortified, and not to be easily taken by the Israelites, had not the Lord been with them, ( Deuteronomy 9:3 ) .

Deuteronomy 9:1 In-Context

1 Hear thou, Israel; thou shalt pass (the) Jordan today, that thou wield the most nations, and stronger than thou; great cities, and walled till to heaven; (Hear, O Israel; thou shalt cross over the Jordan River today, to take over nations greater and stronger than thou; yea, great cities, that be walled unto the heavens;)

2 a great people, and high; the sons of Anakim, which thyself hast seen, and heard, which no man may against-stand in the contrary part. (a great and tall people; the sons of the Anakim, that is, the giants, whom thou hast seen, and heard, and whom no one can stand against.)

3 Therefore thou shalt know today that thy Lord God himself shall pass before thee; he is a fire devouring and wasting, that shall all-break them, and he shall do them away, and destroy them before thy face swiftly, as he spake to thee. (And so know thou today that the Lord thy God himself shall go ahead of thee; he is a devouring and wasting fire, and he shall all-break them before thy face, and then ye shall do them away, and swiftly destroy them, as he promised thee.)

4 Say thou not in thine heart, when thy Lord God hath done them away in thy sight, For my rightwiseness the Lord hath brought me in hither, that I should wield the land; since these nations be done away for their wickednesses. (But when the Lord thy God hath done them away before thee, do not thou say in thy heart, Because of my righteousness, the Lord hath brought me here, so that I could take this land; since these nations shall be done away because of their own wickednesses.)

5 For not for thy rightwiseness, and for the equity of thine heart thou shalt enter, that thou wield their land; but for they did wickedly, they were done away (by thy Lord God), when thou enteredest, and that the Lord should [ful]fill his word which he promised under an oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (For it is not because of thy own righteousness, or the integrity of thy own heart, that thou shalt enter to take their land; but they shall be done away before thee by the Lord thy God, because they did wickedly, and so that the Lord would fulfill his word which he promised under an oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.)