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, 2 Girgashites, 3 Amorites, 4 Canaanites, 5 Perizzites, 6 Hivites, 7 and Jebusites, 8 seven 9 nations more numerous and powerful than you – 7:2 and he 10 delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate 11 them. Make no treaty 12 with them and show them no mercy!
9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. 15
23:27 “I will send my terror 19 before you, and I will destroy 20 all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs 21 to you. 23:28 I will send 22 hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you. 23:29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals 23 multiply against you. 23:30 Little by little 24 I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.
34:11 “Obey 25 what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out 26 before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
1 tn Heb “(as) an inheritance,” that is, landed property that one can pass on to one’s descendants.
2 sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
3 sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).
4 sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
5 sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
6 sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
7 sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
8 sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
9 sn 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 list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.
10 tn Heb “the
11 tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”
12 tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”
13 tn Heb “the
14 tn Heb “he will confuse them (with) great confusion.” The verb used here means “shake, stir up” (see Ruth 1:19; 1 Sam 4:5; 1 Kgs 1:45; Ps 55:2); the accompanying cognate noun refers to confusion, unrest, havoc, or panic (1 Sam 5:9, 11; 14:20; 2 Chr 15:5; Prov 15:16; Isa 22:5; Ezek 7:7; 22:5; Amos 3:9; Zech 14:13).
15 tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.
16 tn Heb “uprightness of your heart” (so NASB, NRSV). The Hebrew word צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”), though essentially synonymous here with יֹשֶׁר (yosher, “uprightness”), carries the idea of conformity to an objective standard. The term יֹשֶׁר has more to do with an inner, moral quality (cf. NAB, NIV “integrity”). Neither, however, was grounds for the
17 tn Heb “the
18 tn Heb “fathers.”
19 tn The word for “terror” is אֵימָתִי (’emati); the word has the thought of “panic” or “dread.” God would make the nations panic as they heard of the exploits and knew the Israelites were drawing near. U. Cassuto thinks the reference to “hornets” in v. 28 may be a reference to this fear, an unreasoning dread, rather than to another insect invasion (Exodus, 308). Others suggest it is symbolic of an invading army or a country like Egypt or literal insects (see E. Neufeld, “Insects as Warfare Agents in the Ancient Near East,” Or 49 [1980]: 30-57).
20 tn Heb “kill.”
21 tn The text has “and I will give all your enemies to you [as] a back.” The verb of making takes two accusatives, the second being the adverbial accusative of product (see GKC 371-72 §117.ii, n. 1).
22 tn Heb “and I will send.”
23 tn Heb “the beast of the field.”
24 tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).
25 tn The covenant duties begin with this command to “keep well” what is being commanded. The Hebrew expression is “keep for you”; the preposition and the suffix form the ethical dative, adding strength to the imperative.
26 tn Again, this is the futur instans use of the participle.