Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, commanding them to cross the Jordan River to dispossess nations that are greater and stronger, with cities fortified to the heavens.
The words — The imperative שְׁמַע (shĕmaʿ) commands "hear," while עֹבֵר (ʿōḇēr) denotes the immediate, ongoing action of "passing over" the Jordan.
The thread — The crossing and conquest motif repeats in Deuteronomy 11:31, which ties the Jordan crossing to possessing the land, and in Deuteronomy 1:28 and 4:38, which reiterate the warning about displacing larger, mightier nations.
Why it lands — The text demands immediate attention to a daunting military reality, requiring Israel to confront the scale of the task before they act.
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
Hear, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 11:31 For you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and settle in it,
- Deuteronomy 1:28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying: ‘The people are larger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the heavens. We even saw the descendants of the Anakim there.’”
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 3:18 At that time I commanded you: “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor are to cross over, armed for battle, ahead of your brothers, the Israelites.
- 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—
- Deuteronomy 11:23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and stronger than you.
- Joshua 1:11 “Go through the camp and tell the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you will cross the Jordan to go in and take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
- Numbers 13:22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
- Numbers 13:28 Nevertheless, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified. We even saw the descendants of Anak there.
- Deuteronomy 27:2 And on the day you cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, set up large stones and coat them with plaster.