Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 7:22
The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, instructing them immediately before they cross the Jordan. He frames the upcoming conquest as a controlled divine operation rather than a spontaneous human campaign.
The words — נָשַׁל (na.Shal) carries the literal sense of clearing out or dispossessing, while מְעַט (me.'At) means little or gradually. These terms explicitly define the conquest as a measured process of removal.
The thread — This gradual expulsion pattern appears in Exodus 23:29, where God states He will not drive out the nations in a single year to prevent the land from becoming desolate. Joshua 15:63 records the historical fulfillment of this extended timeline, noting Judah's inability to displace the Jebusites from Jerusalem.
Why it lands — The text plainly states that God limits the speed of conquest to prevent ecological collapse, requiring the reader to accept delayed results as sovereign protection. It demands patience and trust in divine timing rather than human urgency.
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
And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
Cross-references
- Exodus 23:29 I will not drive them out before you in a single year; otherwise the land would become desolate and wild animals would multiply against you.
- Joshua 15:63 But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So to this day the Jebusites live there among the descendants of Judah.