Deuteronomy 7:2
in Deuteronomy 7and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;
KJV
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThou shalt smite them, etc. - These idolatrous nations were to be utterly destroyed, and all the others also which were contiguous to the boundaries of the promised land, provided they did not renounce their idolatry and receive the true faith: for if they did not, then no covenant was to be made with them on any secular or political consideration whatever; no mercy was to be shown to them, because the cup of their iniquity also was now full; and they must either embrace, heartily embrace, the true religion, or be cut off.
This site's exposition
seven nations greater and mightier
on Deuteronomy 7:1-2
Seven nations are named here and Genesis 15:19-21 had named ten to Abraham. Commentators account for the difference by the centuries of war and absorption that fall between the promise and the possession. Verse 2 gives the command in three parts, utterly destroy them, make no covenant with them, and shew no mercy unto them, and it supplies no ground at this point; the ground arrives at verses 7 and 8. Genesis 15:16 had already fixed the timing by the iniquity of the Amorites, which was not yet full in Abraham's day.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee,....
(1.) God here engages to do his part. It is spoken of as a thing taken for granted that God would bring them into the land of promise, that he would cast out the nations before them, who were the present occupants of that land; no room was left to doubt of that. His power is irresistible, and therefore he can do it; his promise is inviolable, and therefore he will do it.
Thus we must deal with our lusts that was against our souls; God has delivered them into our hands by that promise, Sin shall not have dominion over you, unless it be your own faults; let not us them make covenants with them, nor show them any mercy, but mortify and crucify them, and utterly destroy them.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
If they were to be swept away like the antediluvians or the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, as incorrigible sinners who had filled up the measure of their iniquities, it mattered not to them in what way the judgment was inflicted; and God, as the Sovereign Disposer, had a right to employ any instruments that pleased Him for executing His judgments.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
ונשל This is an expression denoting casting away, and throwing to a distance, and similar is, (Deuteronomy:5) “and the iron flies off" (ונשל).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּנְתָנָ֞ם | unetanam | and he will deliver up them | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| יְהוָ֧ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| לְפָנֶ֖יךָ | lefaneikha | <to> before you | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| וְהִכִּיתָ֑ם | vehikitam | and you will strike down them | H5221 → | 499 times |
| הַחֲרֵ֤ם | hacharem | certainly <to totally destroy> | H2763 → | 52 times |
| תַּחֲרִים֙ | tacharim | you will totally destroy | H2763 → | 52 times |
| אֹתָ֔ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִכְרֹ֥ת | tikhrot | you will make | H3772 → | 288 times |
| לָהֶ֛ם | lahem | to <the> them | ||
| בְּרִ֖ית | berit | a covenant | H1285 → | 284 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְחָנֵּֽם׃ | techanem | you will show favor to them | H2603 → | 78 times |
וּנְתָנָ֞םand he will deliver up them
unetanamH5414 →2011 times
יְהוָ֧הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
לְפָנֶ֖יךָ<to> before you
lefaneikhaH6440 →2123 times
וְהִכִּיתָ֑םand you will strike down them
vehikitamH5221 →499 times
הַחֲרֵ֤םcertainly <to totally destroy>
hacharemH2763 →52 times
תַּחֲרִים֙you will totally destroy
tacharimH2763 →52 times
אֹתָ֔ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תִכְרֹ֥תyou will make
tikhrotH3772 →288 times
לָהֶ֛םto <the> them
lahem
בְּרִ֖יתa covenant
beritH1285 →284 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תְחָנֵּֽם׃you will show favor to them
techanemH2603 →78 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Judges 2:2and you are not to make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall tear down their altars.’ Yet you have not obeyed My voice. What is this you have done?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
- Jeremiah 2:36
How unstable you are, constantly changing your ways! You will be disappointed by Egypt just as you were by Assyria.
- Numbers 33:52–53
you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.
- Deuteronomy 7:16
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
- Jeremiah 2:5
This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in Me that they strayed so far from Me, and followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
- Deuteronomy 7:2–4
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.