Deuteronomy 7:21 (ASV)

Passage

Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:19 the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out: so shall Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples of whom thou art afraid.

Deuteronomy 7:20 Moreover Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves, perish from before thee.

Deuteronomy 7:21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them; for Jehovah thy God is in the midst of thee, a great God and a terrible.

Deuteronomy 7:22 And Jehovah thy God will cast 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.

Deuteronomy 7:23 But Jehovah thy God will deliver them up before thee, and will discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they be destroyed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "shalt", "affrighted", "jehovah", "midst", "thee", "great", and "terrible". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "shalt", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "Moreover Jehovah thy God will send the..." into verse 22's "And Jehovah thy God will cast out...", so "thou" and "shalt" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "shalt" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.