For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
Parallel Translations
-
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
-
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
-
For when the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land hear of it, they will compass us round, and cut off our name from the earth; and what wilt Thou do for Thy great name?'
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Joshua 7:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 32:12 Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people.
- Psalms 83:4 “Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
- Ezekiel 36:22-23 “Therefore tell the house of Israel, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I don’t do this for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am Yahweh,” says the Lord Yahweh, “when I am proven holy in you before their eyes.
- John 12:28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
- Numbers 14:13 Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
- Deuteronomy 9:28 lest the land you brought us out from say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
- Psalms 124:2-3 if it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, when men rose up against us; then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;
- Joel 2:17 Let the priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, Yahweh, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ”
- Deuteronomy 32:26-27 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’ ”
- Psalms 106:6-8 We have sinned with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt. They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses, but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power known.
- Ezekiel 20:9 But I worked for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known to them, in bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 9. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants, etc…
9. For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants, etc He mentions another ground of fear. All the neighboring nations, who, either subdued by calamities or terrified by miracles, were quiet, will now resume their confidence and make a sudden attack upon the people. It was indeed probable, that as the divine power had crushed their spirit and filled them with dismay, they would come boldly forward to battle as soon as they knew that God had become hostile to the Israelites. He therefore appeals to God in regard to the future danger, entreating him to make speedy provision against it, as the occasion would be seized by the Canaanites, who, though hitherto benumbed with terror, will now assume the aggressive, and easily succeed in destroying a panic-struck people.
It is manifest, however, from the last clause, that he is not merely thinking of the safety of the people, but is concerned above all for the honor of the divine name, that it may remain inviolable, and not be trampled under foot by the petulance of the wicked, as it would be if the people were ejected from the inheritance so often promised. We know the language which God himself employed, as recorded in the song of Moses, (Deuteronomy 32:26, 27)
Read full note →
“I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them cease among men; were it not that I feared the wrath (pride) of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the Lord has not done all this.”
The very thing, then, which God declares that he was, humanly speaking, afraid of, Joshua wishes now to be timelessly prevented; otherwise the enemy, elated by the defeat of the people, will grow insolent and boast of triumphing over God himself.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain When thine enemies shall blaspheme thee and say, that…
When thine enemies shall blaspheme thee and say, that thou wast not able to defend us from them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Jos 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants…
Jos 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear [of it], and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Ver. 9. And what wilt thou do unto thy great name?] This was Joshua’s chief care, - lest God should suffer in the glory of his power and truth. It is the ingenuity of saints, to study God’s share more than their own, and to desire far more that God may be glorified than themselves gratified; they drown all self-respects in his honour, and can believe, when things are at worst, that Christ’s cause shall prevail. There are many golden sayings of Luther sounding to this sense, in his epistles to Melancthon especially, such as a man would fetch upon his knees from Rome or Jerusalem, saith one.
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 Which will upon this occasion be blasphemed and charged…
Which will upon this occasion be blasphemed and charged with inconstancy, unkindness, and unfaithfulness to thine own people, and with inability to resist them, or to do thy people that good thou didst intend them. Compare Exo 32:12; Num 14:13; Deu 33:27; Joe 2:17.
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 For the Canaanites,.... Those that dwell on the east…
For the Canaanites,.... Those that dwell on the east and on the west of the land, see Jos 11:3; who were one of the seven nations:
and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it; of this defeat; not only the Amorites, among whom they now were, and the Canaanites before mentioned, but the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, and the Jebusites:
Read full note →
and shall environ us round; come with all their forces from all parts of the land, and surround us, so that there will be no escaping for us:
and cut off our name from the earth; utterly destroy us, that we shall be no more a nation and people, and the name of an Israelite no more be heard of, see Psa 83:4,
and what wilt thou do unto thy great name? this, though mentioned last, was uppermost in the heart of Joshua, and was reserved by him as his strongest argument with God to appear for them and save them; since his own glory, the glory of his perfections, his wisdom, goodness, power, truth, and faithfulness, was so much concerned in their salvation.
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 Thy great name - Which will upon this occasion…
Thy great name - Which will upon this occasion be blasphemed and charged with inconstancy, and with inability to resist them, or to do thy people that good which thou didst intend them. The name of God is a great name, above every name. And whatever happens, we ought to pray, that this may not be polluted. This should be our concern more than any thing else: on this we should fix our eye: and we cannot urge a better plea than this, Lord, what wilt thou do for thy great name? Let God in all be glorified, and then welcome his whole will!
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain What wilt thou do unto thy great name? -…
What wilt thou do unto thy great name? - i. e. “after the Canaanites have cut off our name what will become of Thy Name?” This bold expostulation, that of one wrestling in sore need with God in prayer, like the similar appeals of Moses in earlier emergencies (Compare the marginal references), is based upon God’s past promises and mercies. What would be said of (God by the pagan if now He permitted Israel to be destroyed?
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. And cut off our name — Our enemies…
9. And cut off our name — Our enemies will be encouraged to make a combined assault, and destroy our communications with eastern Palestine.
And what wilt thou do unto thy great name? — That is, with regard to thy great name. Exalted and true views of God are necessary to elevate man and restore in him the image of God. Reverence for him is the basis of all true holiness. The preservation of the glory of God’s name in order that monotheism should finally be the religion of the earth was, according to God’s plan, the very mission of Israel. Joshua therefore appropriately argues, Will God defeat that plan, and upset the whole of Israel’s future history? It does not detract from this prayer to say that the successive arguments used to move God are eminently human — such as a man would address to his fellow. Moses, in his entreaty, for his nation, uses the same argument. Num_14:13-19; Deu_9:28.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (9) The Canaanites . . . shall environ us…
(9) The Canaanites . . . shall environ us round.—A thing extremely probable in itself, apart from the supernatural character of the invasion.
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 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the…
For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it. The invariable argument of Moses. (Exo_32:12 Num_14:13-16 Deu_9:28 Deu_32:26, Deu_32:27) The disgrace which the sin of man brings upon the cause of the Lord is a real and very terrible thing. (cf. 2Sa_12:14 Eze_36:23)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.