Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 4:38
to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, recounting God's deliverance from Egypt and promising the conquest of Canaan. He presents the displacement of local populations as a direct continuation of God's covenantal choice.
The words — The Hebrew לְהוֹרִישׁ (leho.rish) literally means "to dispossess" or "to drive out," while גּוֹיִם (go.yim) neutrally denotes "nations" or ethnic groups.
The thread — The text records this pattern in Deuteronomy 7:1, Exodus 23:27, and Deuteronomy 2:31, where God systematically delivers land and enemies to Israel.
Why it lands — The verse states that territorial transfer results from divine action rather than human strength. It requires the reader to recognize that inheritance follows the authority of the God who initiates both conquest and covenant.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—
- Exodus 23:27 I will send My terror ahead of you and throw into confusion every nation you encounter. I will make all your enemies turn and run.
- Deuteronomy 2:31 Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”
- Deuteronomy 9:1 Hear, O Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities fortified to the heavens.
- Deuteronomy 11:23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.
- Psalms 44:2 With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.
- Deuteronomy 8:18 But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.
- Joshua 3:10 He continued, “This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that He will surely drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.