The Meaning of Deuteronomy 11:23 Explained

Deuteronomy 11:23

KJV: Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

YLT: then hath Jehovah dispossessed all these nations from before you, and ye have possessed nations, greater and mightier than you;

Darby: then will Jehovah dispossess all these nations from before you, and ye shall take possession of nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

ASV: then will Jehovah drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Then will the LORD  drive out  all these nations  from before  you, and ye shall possess  greater  nations  and mightier  than yourselves. 

What does Deuteronomy 11:23 Mean?

Context Summary

Deuteronomy 11:18-32 - The Blessing And The Curse
Never in this world do we reach a position from which it is impossible to fall away. The dew and the rain of God's blessing are contingent on obedience; and one of the strongest incentives to obedience is devout meditation on the Word of God. It is through the letter that we arrive at the spirit; and through the written words at the Eternal Word. We must store up the sacred words of God as a farmer stores up his grain, keeping them before us, making them the familiar topics of home-talk, and exercising ourselves in them. Let us specially ponder Deuteronomy 11:22-25, appropriating them in a spiritual sense, and claiming their equivalents in the inner life.
All along our lives are Ebals and Gerizims, with their "Come, ye blessed" and "Depart, ye cursed." Always we are arriving at the crossways, on the one of which lies the smile, and on the other the frown, of God. Let us be attracted by the one and dissuaded from the other, till we climb the spiral staircase into the land where there is no cooling love or faltering faith. [source]

Chapter Summary: Deuteronomy 11

1  Another exhortation to obedience
2  by their own experience of God's great works
8  by promise of God's great blessings
16  and by threatenings
18  A careful study is required in God's words
26  The blessing and curse set before them

What do the individual words in Deuteronomy 11:23 mean?

Then will drive out Yahweh - all nations these from before you and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves
וְהוֹרִ֧ישׁ יְהוָ֛ה אֶת־ כָּל־ הַגּוֹיִ֥ם הָאֵ֖לֶּה מִלִּפְנֵיכֶ֑ם וִֽירִשְׁתֶּ֣ם גּוֹיִ֔ם גְּדֹלִ֥ים וַעֲצֻמִ֖ים מִכֶּֽם

וְהוֹרִ֧ישׁ  Then  will  drive  out 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָרַשׁ  
Sense: to seize, dispossess, take possession off, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir.
יְהוָ֛ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
אֶת־  - 
Parse: Direct object marker
Root: אֹות 
Sense: sign of the definite direct object, not translated in English but generally preceding and indicating the accusative.
הַגּוֹיִ֥ם  nations 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine plural
Root: גֹּוי 
Sense: nation, people.
הָאֵ֖לֶּה  these 
Parse: Article, Pronoun, common plural
Root: אֵהֶל 
Sense: these.
מִלִּפְנֵיכֶ֑ם  from  before  you 
Parse: Preposition-m, Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct, second person masculine plural
Root: לִפְנֵי 
Sense: face.
וִֽירִשְׁתֶּ֣ם  and  you  will  dispossess 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Conjunctive perfect, second person masculine plural
Root: יָרַשׁ  
Sense: to seize, dispossess, take possession off, inherit, disinherit, occupy, impoverish, be an heir.
גּוֹיִ֔ם  nations 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: גֹּוי 
Sense: nation, people.
גְּדֹלִ֥ים  greater 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: גָּבֹול 
Sense: great.
וַעֲצֻמִ֖ים  and  mightier 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine plural
Root: עָצוּם  
Sense: mighty, vast, numerous.
מִכֶּֽם  than  yourselves 
Parse: Preposition, second person masculine plural
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.