Exodus 23:27-31

23:27 “I will send my terror ¹  before you, and I will destroy ²  all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs ³  to you. 23:28 I will send ⁴  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 ⁵  multiply against you. 23:30 Little by little ⁶  I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land. 23:31 I will set ⁷  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ⁸  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

Exodus 34:11

34:11 “Obey ⁹  what I am commanding you this day. I am going to drive out ¹⁰  before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Numbers 34:2-13

34:2 “Give these instructions ¹¹  to the Israelites, and tell them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that has been assigned to you as an inheritance, ¹²  the land of Canaan with its borders, 34:3 your southern border ¹³  will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the Edomite border, and your southern border will run eastward to the extremity of the Salt Sea, 34:4 and then the border will turn from the south to the Scorpion Ascent, ¹⁴  continue to Zin, and then its direction ¹⁵  will be from the south to Kadesh Barnea. Then it will go to Hazar Addar and pass over to Azmon. 34:5 There the border will turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt, and then its direction is to the sea. ¹⁶ 

The Western Border of the Land

34:6 “‘And for a western border ¹⁷  you will have the Great Sea. ¹⁸  This will be your western border.

The Northern Border of the Land

34:7 “‘And this will be your northern border: From the Great Sea you will draw a line to Mount Hor; 34:8 from Mount Hor you will draw a line to Lebo Hamath, ¹⁹  and the direction of the border will be to Zedad. 34:9 The border will continue to Ziphron, and its direction will be to Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

The Eastern Border of the Land

34:10 “‘For your eastern border you will draw a line from Hazar Enan to Shepham. 34:11 The border will run down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, and the border will descend and reach the eastern side of the Sea of Chinnereth. ²⁰  34:12 Then the border will continue down the Jordan River ²¹  and its direction will be to the Salt Sea. This will be your land by its borders that surround it.’”

34:13 Then Moses commanded the Israelites: “This is the land which you will inherit by lot, which the Lord has commanded to be given ²²  to the nine and a half tribes,

Deuteronomy 11:23-25

11:23 then he ²³  will drive out all these nations ahead of you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you. 11:24 Every place you set your foot ²⁴  will be yours; your border will extend from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, the Euphrates) as far as the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵  11:25 Nobody will be able to resist you; the Lord your God will spread the fear and terror of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.

[23:27]  ¹ 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).

[23:27]  ² tn Heb “kill.”

[23:27]  ³ 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).

[23:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “and I will send.”

[23:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “the beast of the field.”

[23:30]  ⁶ tn The repetition expresses an exceptional or super-fine quality (see GKC 396 §123.e).

[23:31]  ⁷ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

[23:31]  ⁸ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.

[34:11]  ⁹ 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.

[34:11]  ¹⁰ tn Again, this is the futur instans use of the participle.

[34:2]  ¹¹ tn Or “command.”

[34:2]  ¹² tn Heb “this is the land that will fall to you as an inheritance.”

[34:3]  ¹³ tn The expression refers to the corner or extremity of the Negev, the South.

[34:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).

[34:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “its going forth,” or the way it runs.

[34:5]  ¹⁶ sn That is, the Mediterranean.

[34:6]  ¹⁷ tn The word for west is simply “sea,” because the sea is west of Israel.

[34:6]  ¹⁸ sn That is, the Mediterranean Sea (also in the following verse).

[34:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “to the entrance to Hamath.”

[34:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Sea of Galilee” (so NLT); NCV, TEV, CEV “Lake Galilee.”

[34:12]  ²¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:13]  ²² tn The infinitive forms the direct object of what the Lord commanded. It actually means “to give,” but without an expressed subject may be made passive.

[11:23]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[11:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the sole of your foot walks.” The placing of the foot symbolizes conquest and dominion, especially on land or on the necks of enemies (cf. Deut 1:36; Ps 7:13; Isa 63:3 Hab 3:19; Zech 9:13). See E. H. Merrill, NIDOTTE 1:992.

[11:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the after sea,” that is, the sea behind one when one is facing east, which is the normal OT orientation. Cf. ASV “the hinder sea.”