Deuteronomy 7:21 (DRB)

Passage

Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible:

Nearby Context

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.

Deuteronomy 7:20 Moreover the Lord thy God will send also hornets among them, until he destroy and consume all that have escaped thee, and could hide themselves.

Deuteronomy 7:21 Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible:

Deuteronomy 7:22 He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee.

Deuteronomy 7:23 But the Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight: and shall slay them until they be utterly destroyed.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "shalt", "fear", "lord", "midst", "thee", "mighty", 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 the Lord thy God will send..." into verse 22's "He will consume these nations in thy...", 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.