One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.
Parallel Translations
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One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.
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One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
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One man of you hath chased a thousand; for the LORD your God, He it is that fought for you, as He spoke unto you.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Joshua 23:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
- Leviticus 26:8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
- Deuteronomy 3:22 You shall not fear them; for Yahweh your God himself fights for you.”
- Exodus 14:14 Yahweh will fight for you, and you shall be still.”
- Psalms 35:1 Contend, Yahweh, with those who contend with me. Fight against those who fight against me.
- Deuteronomy 20:4 for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
- Romans 8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
- Psalms 46:7 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
- Joshua 23:3 You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for you.
- Psalms 44:4-5 You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob! Through you, will we push down our adversaries. Through your name, we will tread down those who rise up against us.
- 1 Samuel 14:6 Jonathan said to the young man who bore his armor, “Come! Let’s go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that Yahweh will work for us; for there is no restraint on Yahweh to save by many or by few.”
- Joshua 10:42 Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
- Exodus 23:27-33 I will send my terror before you, and will confuse all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. I will send the hornet before you, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate, and the animals of the field multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and inherit the land. I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- Judges 15:15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
- 2 Samuel 23:8 These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb Basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains; he was called Adino the Eznite, who killed eight hundred at one time.
- Judges 7:19-22 So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch. Then they blew the trumpets and broke in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets, broke the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands with which to blow; and they shouted, “The sword of Yahweh and of Gideon!” They each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight. They blew the three hundred trumpets, and Yahweh set every man’s sword against his fellow and against all the army; and the army fled as far as Beth Shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel Meholah, by Tabbath.
- Judges 3:31 After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who struck six hundred men of the Philistines with an ox goad. He also saved Israel.
- 1 Samuel 14:12-16 The men of the garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, “Come up to us, and we will show you something!” Jonathan said to his armor bearer, “Come up after me; for Yahweh has delivered them into the hand of Israel.” Jonathan climbed up on his hands and on his feet, and his armor bearer after him: and they fell before Jonathan; and his armor bearer killed them after him. That first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow’s length in an acre of land. There was a trembling in the camp, in the field, and among all the people; the garrison, and the raiders, also trembled; and the earth quaked, so there was an exceedingly great trembling. The watchmen of Saul in Gibeah of Benjamin looked; and behold, the multitude melted away and scattered.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 23:10 One man of you shall chase a…
Jos 23:10 One man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he [it is] that fighteth for you, as he hath promised you.
Ver. 10. He it is that fighteth for you.] He who alone is a whole army of men, van and rear, both. {Isa 52:12} He who "strengtheneth" and weakeneth "the arm" of either party, {Eze 30:24} and rendereth their weapons vain or prosperous. {Isa 54:17}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He it is that fighteth for you; impute not…
He it is that fighteth for you; impute not this therefore to your own valour, as you will be apt to do, but to God’s gracious and powerful assistance.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain One man of you shall chase a thousand,.... Here…
One man of you shall chase a thousand,.... Here Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, that the future tense is put for the past, and that the sense is, one of them had chased a thousand in their war with the Canaanites; but Abarbinel disapproves of this observation, and thinks it refers to time to come, what they should be able to do if they cleaved unto the Lord; this was fulfilled in Samson, Jdg 15:15; such a promise was made, Lev 26:8,
for the Lord your God he it is that fighteth for you; and no wonder then that a thousand should be put to flight by one man; the Targum interprets it of the Word of the Lord, as in Jos 23:3,
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as he hath promised you; see Deu 1:30.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He fighteth - Impute not this therefore to your…
He fighteth - Impute not this therefore to your own valour, as you will be apt to do, but to God's gracious and powerful assistance.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. One man of you shall chase a…
Verse 10. One man of you shall chase a thousand] Do not remain inactive on the supposition that you must be much more numerous before you can drive out your enemies, for it is the Lord that shall drive out nations great and strong; and under his direction and influence one of you shall chase a thousand.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Thousand. This Moses had repeatedly foretold, Leviticus xxvi. 13.,…
Thousand. This Moses had repeatedly foretold, Leviticus xxvi. 13., and Deuteronomy xxviii. 7.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 10. One shall chase a thousand — An enlargement…
10. One shall chase a thousand — An enlargement of the promise in Lev_26:8, and nearly identical with Deu_32:30, signifying that a few shall vanquish a great multitude. See the night attack of Gideon. Jdg_7:22. Also the acts of David’s worthies, one of whom lifted his spear against eight hundred and slew three hundred. 2Sa_23:8; 2Sa_23:18; 1Ch_11:11.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. One man of you] Comp. Lev_26:8; Jdg_3:31; Jdg_15:15;…
10. One man of you] Comp. Lev_26:8; Jdg_3:31; Jdg_15:15; 2Sa_23:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) One man of you shall chase a thousand.—See…
(10) One man of you shall chase a thousand.—See Deu_28:7.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain One man of you shall chase a thousand. A…
One man of you shall chase a thousand. A quotation from the song of Moses. (Deu_32:30)
Victory assured through the help of God.
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I VICTORY IS ASSURED.
(1) The people of God are few and weak in comparison with the host of theft enemies. This was the case with the Jews. It is so in the comparison of the Church with the great godless and heathen world. It is true of our own spiritual resources and the dangers which beset our inner life. The comparison is as one to a thousand.
(2) It is a Divine law that success shall not turn on questions of numbers and visible strength. God is not always "on the side of the big battalions." Even in material warfare there are possible "accidents" and "mistakes" which vitiate arguments drawn from statistics. In spiritual warfare visible superiority counts for very little. Paul the tent maker was stronger than the Sanhedrim. The monk Luther was victorious over the Pope and the whole Roman hierarchy. Nothing could have looked feebler than Christianity when it appeared in the upper room at Jerusalem; yet in three centuries it conquered the Roman Empire, and it is now the most powerful factor in the life of the foremost races of mankind.
(3) God assures victory to His people. The victory is not only possible in spite of apparent weakness; it is certain. It is promised by God. Anticipations are constantly seen, as in the successes of Israel, the triumphs of Christianity, the victory of the Christian over his old sins, etc. Therefore let us see that we are on the side of right and truth and God, and then let us be trustful and hopeful.
II THE SECRET OF VICTORY IS THE HELP OF GOD. Israel must be brave and faithful, and must labour and fight. Yet victory is not secured by these means alone. Joshua points to the true ground of assurance: "The Lord your God, He it is that fighteth for you." How does God fight for us?
(1) He fights for us in His providence.
(a) God so overrules events that they shall minister to the victory of His people; His complete government of all things renders it certain that no calamities or temptations can fall upon His people against His will, and He can regulate and temper those that He permits.
(b) God guides the thoughts and inner lives of men. Pharaoh the oppressor and Nebuchadnezzar were led by God to do His will, though unconsciously. Even the bitterest opponents of God"s will cannot shake off this unseen control.
(2) God fights for us by innspiring us with strength to fight.
(a) He leads the mind to those thoughts which help us to resist evil and advocate truth and right with enthusiasm.
(b) He is the source of direct spiritual influences which strengthen the will in the determination to brave all for the right. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 23:10 God fights for you: Just as God had…
23:10 God fights for you: Just as God had fought for the Israelites in the past (e.g., 10:11-14), he would continue to fight for them in the future.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.