Commentary
Old Testament : Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalms
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
The Song of Songs
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
![](images/minus.gif)
Text -- Deuteronomy 7:1-17 (NET)
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Strongs On/Off
Context
The Dispossession of Nonvassals
7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you– Hittites , Girgashites , Amorites , Canaanites , Perizzites , Hivites , and Jebusites , seven nations more numerous and powerful than you–
7:2 and he delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy !
7:3 You must not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons ,
7:4 for they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods . Then the anger of the Lord will erupt against you and he will quickly destroy you.
7:5 Instead , this is what you must do to them : You must tear down their altars , shatter their sacred pillars , cut down their sacred Asherah poles , and burn up their idols .
7:6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God . He has chosen you to be his people , prized above all others on the face of the earth .
The Basis of Israel’s Election
7:7 It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the Lord favored and chose you– for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples .
7:8 Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with great power , redeeming you from the place of slavery , from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt .
7:9 So realize that the Lord your God is the true God , the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments , to a thousand generations ,
7:10 but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve !
7:11 So keep the commandments , statutes , and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do .
Promises of Good for Covenant Obedience
7:12 If you obey these ordinances and are careful to do them, the Lord your God will faithfully keep covenant with you as he promised your ancestors .
7:13 He will love and bless you, and make you numerous . He will bless you with many children , with the produce of your soil , your grain , your new wine , your oil , the offspring of your oxen , and the young of your flocks in the land which he promised your ancestors to give you.
7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples ; there will be no barrenness among you or your livestock .
7:15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness , and you will not experience any of the terrible diseases that you knew in Egypt ; instead he will inflict them on all those who hate you.
Exhortation to Destroy Canaanite Paganism
7:16 You must destroy all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship their gods , for that will be a snare to you.
7:17 If you think , “These nations are more numerous than I– how can I dispossess them?”
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
![](images/advanced.gif)
Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
![](images/arrow_open.gif)
Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Idolatry |
Moses |
Judgments |
Obligation |
God |
Blessing |
Contingencies |
Canaanites |
SONG OF SONGS |
Samson |
Grace of God |
Fellowship |
DEUTERONOMY |
Children |
Associations |
CHOOSE; CHOSEN |
Pity |
Covenant |
Girgashites |
FOREKNOW; FOREKNOWLEDGE |
more
![](images/cmt_minus_head.gif)
expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:1; Deu 7:2; Deu 7:2; Deu 7:2; Deu 7:5; Deu 7:5; Deu 7:6; Deu 7:6; Deu 7:6; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:8; Deu 7:9; Deu 7:9; Deu 7:10; Deu 7:10; Deu 7:12; Deu 7:12; Deu 7:13; Deu 7:14; Deu 7:16; Deu 7:16
NET Notes: Deu 7:1 Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and li...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Deu 7:5 Sacred Asherah poles. A leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon was Asherah, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Deu 7:6 Or “treasured” (so NIV, NRSV); NLT “his own special treasure.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלּ...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Deu 7:9 Heb “who keeps covenant and loyalty.” The syndetic construction of בְּרִית (bÿrit) and ...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Deu 7:12 Heb “which he swore on oath.” The relative pronoun modifies “covenant,” so one could translate “will keep faithfully the...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)
NET Notes: Deu 7:14 One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these p...
![](images/cmt_minus.gif)