Deuteronomy 7:17 (DBY)

Passage

If thou shouldest say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:15 and Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness, and none of the evil infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee; but he will lay them upon all them that hate thee.

Deuteronomy 7:16 And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God will give up unto thee; thine eye shall not spare them, and thou shalt not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto thee.

Deuteronomy 7:17 If thou shouldest say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?

Deuteronomy 7:18 fear them not; remember well what Jehovah thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all the Egyptians;

Deuteronomy 7:19 the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the powerful hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out: so will Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples whom thou fearest.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "shouldest", "heart", "nations", "greater", "than", and "dispossess". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "shouldest", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "And thou shalt consume all the peoples..." into verse 18's "fear them not remember well what Jehovah...", so "thou" and "shouldest" 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 "shouldest" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.