Deuteronomy 7:10 (WEB)

Passage

and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,

Deuteronomy 7:10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

Deuteronomy 7:11 You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you today, to do them.

Deuteronomy 7:12 It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "repays", "hate", "face", "destroy", "slack", and "hates". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "repays" and "hate", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 9's "Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself..." into verse 11's "You shall therefore keep the commandments the...", so "repays" and "hate" 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 "repays" and "hate" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.