What Does Deuteronomy 9:4 Mean?
Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, “Because of my alignment the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.” But because of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD drives them out before you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Speak not thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from before thee.THE KEY
The Hebrew uses one root for Israel’s “possessing” the land and the nations’ being “driven out,” making inheritance inseparable from dispossession.
THE MEANING
When you possess land from which others are driven out, this verse blocks the claim that possession proves your righteousness. It names the nations’ wickedness as the reason for their expulsion, while also saying your own righteousness did not bring you into the land. The judgment and the displacement stand together in the same sentence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Receiving the land means I earned it and am more righteous than those who were driven out.
THE ROOT
לָרֶשֶׁת
lareshet
GROWS FROM
ירש
y-r-sh
To inherit or take possession; in its causative form, to dispossess or drive out.
“possess / drive out” in this verse is lareshet. English makes “possess” and “drive out” sound like separate actions; the Hebrew repeats one root, using a causative form for driving the nations out. The land comes as inheritance through another people’s dispossession, and the verse leaves that cost in view.
ALSO GROWS
yarash: Inherit, take possession, or dispossess.
יָרַשׁ
This is the root behind Israel’s stated purpose of possessing the land.
horish: Cause to dispossess; drive out.
הוֹרִישׁ
This causative form names what happens to the nations as Israel takes possession.
צִדְקָתִי
tsidqati
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Justice, rightness, alignment.
“my alignment” in this verse is tsidqati. The root’s sense of rightness or alignment is offered as the reason for possessing the land, then explicitly denied. The verse does not erase its stated judgment of the nations; it refuses to let possession become proof of the possessor’s moral superiority.
ALSO GROWS
tzedakah: Righteousness or justice.
צְדָקָה
This noun is the form behind the speaker’s claim of “my righteousness.”
tzaddiq: A just or righteous person.
צַדִּיק
This branch describes the person whose character might seem to validate such a claim, which the verse refuses to treat as the cause of possession.
בְּרִשְׁעַת
berish'at
GROWS FROM
רשע
r-sh-ʿ
To act wickedly or be guilty.
This root gives the verse’s explicit account of why the nations are driven out: it names their wickedness. Set beside the rejected claim of righteousness, it assigns judgment to them without declaring the possessor righteous.
ALSO GROWS
rasha: A wicked or guilty person.
רָשָׁע
The word names a person characterized by the wrongdoing attributed to the nations.
rish'ah: Wickedness or guilt.
רִשְׁעָה
This is the abstract form used for the nations’ wrongdoing in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Being granted a place while others are driven out does not establish the recipient’s righteousness.
Not because of your alignment, nor the straightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land. But because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God drives them out before you, and so that he may raise up the word he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.And he spoke this parable to some who leaned their weight on themselves, that they were aligned, and made nothing of others.Rightly. They were broken off through not leaning their weight, and you stand through leaning your full weight. Do not lift your mind high, but fear.THE THREAD
Not because of your alignment, nor the straightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land. But because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God drives them out before you, and so that he may raise up the word he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.The next verse repeats צדק (ts-d-q, justice, rightness, alignment) in “thy righteousness,” then adds uprightness of heart only to deny both as the cause of possession. It keeps the nations’ expulsion in view and names the oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the stated ground.
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