Deuteronomy 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

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. ¹ 

Deuteronomy 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ²  by describing people who are more numerous ³  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ⁴  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁵  Anakites ⁶  there.”

Deuteronomy 6:10

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

[9:1]  ¹ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ³ tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”