Deuteronomy 7 · Verse 2

Deuteronomy 7:2

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:
Deuteronomy 7:2, King James Version

Deuteronomy 7:2 in other translations

BSBand 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.
WEBand when the LORD your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them.
ASVand 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;
YLTand Jehovah thy God hath given them before thee, and thou hast smitten them--thou dost utterly devote them--thou dost not make with them a covenant, nor dost thou favour them.
DARBYand when Jehovah thy God shall give them up before thee and thou shalt smite them, then shalt thou utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them.
BBEAnd when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them:
WebsterAnd 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 show mercy to them:

What does Deuteronomy 7:2 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Deuteronomy 7:2-10
2-6. thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them--This relentless doom of extermination which God denounced against those tribes of Canaan cannot be reconciled with the attributes of the divine character, except on the assumption that their gross idolatry and enormous wickedness left no reasonable hope of their repentance and amendment. 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. Some think that they were to be exterminated as unprincipled usurpers of a country which God had assigned to the posterity of Eber and which had been occupied ages before by wandering shepherds of that race, till, on the migration of Jacob's family into Egypt through the pressure of famine, the Canaanites overspread the whole land, though they had no legitimate claim to it, and endeavored to retain possession of it by force. In this view their expulsion was just and proper. The strict prohibition against contracting any alliances with such infamous idolaters was a prudential rule, founded on the experience that "evil communications corrupt good manners" [1Co 15:33], and its importance or necessity was attested by the unhappy examples of Solomon and others in the subsequent history of Israel.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 2 Thou 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.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Deuteronomy 7:1-11

Here is a strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those who are in communion with God, must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. Limiting the orders to destroy, to the nations here mentioned, plainly shows that after ages were not to draw this into a precedent. A proper understanding of the evil of sin, and of the mystery of a crucified Saviour, will…

Read the full comment on Deuteronomy 7:1-11 →

Deuteronomy 7:2 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וּנְתָנָ֞םu.ne.ta.Namand he will deliver up themH5414
יְהוָ֧הYah.wehYahwehH3068
אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ'e.lo.Hei.khaGod yourH430
לְפָנֶ֖יךָle.fa.Nei.kha<to> before youH6440
וְהִכִּיתָ֑םve.hi.ki.Tamand you will strike down themH5221
הַחֲרֵ֤םha.cha.Remcertainly <to totally destroy>H2763
תַּחֲרִים֙ta.cha.Rimyou will totally destroyH2763
אֹתָ֔ם'o.Tam<obj.> themH853
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
תִכְרֹ֥תtikh.Rotyou will makeH3772
לָהֶ֛םla.Hemto <the> them
בְּרִ֖יתbe.Rita covenantH1285
וְלֹ֥אve.Lo'and notH3808
תְחָנֵּֽם\׃te.cha.Nemyou will show favor to themH2603

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Deuteronomy 7:2

  • Judges 2:2

    And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

  • Exodus 23:32-33

    Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

  • Deuteronomy 20:16-17

    But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

  • Joshua 2:14

    And the men answered her, Our life for yours, if ye utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the Lord hath given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with thee.

  • Leviticus 27:28-29

    Notwithstanding no devoted thing, that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that he hath, both of man and beast, and of the field of his possession, shall be sold or redeemed: every devoted thing is most holy unto the Lord. None devoted, which shall be devoted of men, shall be redeemed; but shall surely be put to death.

  • Deuteronomy 23:14

    For the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee.

  • Joshua 11:11-12

    And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them: there was not any left to breathe: and he burnt Hazor with fire. And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and smote them with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the Lord commanded.

  • Joshua 10:30

    And the Lord delivered it also, and the king thereof, into the hand of Israel; and he smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein; he let none remain in it; but did unto the king thereof as he did unto the king of Jericho.

  • Joshua 10:32

    And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls that were therein, according to all that he had done to Libnah.

  • Deuteronomy 3:3

    So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people: and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.

  • Numbers 33:52

    Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:

  • Exodus 34:12-16

    Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; …

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
deliver.
23,24; 3:3; 23:14; Ge 14:20; Jos 10:24,25,30,32,42; 21:44; Jud 1:4
utterly.
20:16,17; Le 27:28,29; Nu 33:52; Jos 6:17-25; 8:24; 9:24; 10:28,40
Jos 11:11,12
make no.
20:10,11; Ex 23:32,33; 34:12-16; Jos 2:14; 9:18-21; Jud 1:24; 2:2
2Sa 21:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Deuteronomy 7:1

    When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

  • Deuteronomy 7:2

    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:

  • Deuteronomy 7:3

    Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Read all of Deuteronomy 7

Deuteronomy 7:2 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y Jehová tu Dios las hubiere entregado delante de ti, y las hirieres, del todo las destruirás: no harás con ellos alianza, ni las tomarás á merced.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		et que l’ Éternel, ton Dieu, les aura livrées devant toi, et que tu les auras frappées, tu les détruiras entièrement comme un anathème; tu ne traiteras point alliance avec elles, et tu ne leur feras pas grâce.
German
Elberfelder 1871		und Jehova, dein Gott, sie vor dir dahingibt, und du sie schlägst, so sollst du sie ganz und gar verbannen; du sollst keinen Bund mit ihnen machen, noch Gnade gegen sie üben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		tradideritque eas Dominus Deus tuus tibi, percuties eas usque ad internecionem. Non inibis cum eis fœdus, nec misereberis earum,