Deuteronomy 7:17 (DRB)

Passage

If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall I be able to destroy them?

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:15 The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee, but upon thy enemies.

Deuteronomy 7:16 Thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God will deliver to thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, lest they be thy ruin.

Deuteronomy 7:17 If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall I be able to destroy them?

Deuteronomy 7:18 Fear not, but remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians,

Deuteronomy 7:19 The exceeding great plagues, which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the Lord thy God brought thee out: so will he do to all the people, whom thou fearest.

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "Thou shalt consume all the people which..." into verse 18's "Fear not but remember what the Lord...", so "thou" and "heart" 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 "heart" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.