Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 7:1 
Context7:1 When the Lord your God brings you to the land that you are going to occupy and forces out many nations before you – Hittites, 1 Girgashites, 2 Amorites, 3 Canaanites, 4 Perizzites, 5 Hivites, 6 and Jebusites, 7 seven 8 nations more numerous and powerful than you –
Deuteronomy 16:4
Context16:4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land 9 for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning. 10
Deuteronomy 16:15
Context16:15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he 11 chooses, for he 12 will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do; 13 so you will indeed rejoice!
Deuteronomy 28:7
Context28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack 14 you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction 15 but flee from you in seven different directions.
Deuteronomy 28:25
Context28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror 16 to all the kingdoms of the earth.
1 sn Hittites. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200
2 sn Girgashites. These cannot be ethnically identified and are unknown outside the OT. They usually appear in such lists only when the intention is to have seven groups in all (see also the note on the word “seven” later in this verse).
3 sn Amorites. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200
4 sn Canaanites. These were the indigenous peoples of the land, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000
5 sn Perizzites. This is probably a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
6 sn Hivites. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on the term “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
7 sn Jebusites. These inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
8 sn Seven. This is an ideal number in the OT, one symbolizing fullness or completeness. Therefore, the intent of the text here is not to be precise and list all of Israel’s enemies but simply to state that Israel will have a full complement of foes to deal with. For other lists of Canaanites, some with fewer than seven peoples, see Exod 3:8; 13:5; 23:23, 28; 33:2; 34:11; Deut 20:17; Josh 3:10; 9:1; 24:11. Moreover, the “Table of Nations” (Gen 10:15-19) suggests that all of these (possibly excepting the Perizzites) were offspring of Canaan and therefore Canaanites.
9 tn Heb “leaven must not be seen among you in all your border.”
10 tn Heb “remain all night until the morning” (so KJV, ASV). This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “the
12 tn Heb “the
13 tn Heb “in all the work of your hands” (so NASB, NIV); NAB, NRSV “in all your undertakings.”
14 tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).
15 tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).
16 tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).
