Ulangan 1:28

1:28 What is going to happen to us? Our brothers have drained away our courage ¹  by describing people who are more numerous ²  and taller than we are, and great cities whose defenses appear to be as high as heaven ³  itself! Moreover, they said they saw ⁴  Anakites ⁵  there.”

Ulangan 6:10

Exhortation to Worship the Lord Exclusively

6:10 Then when the Lord your God brings you to the land he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to give you – a land with large, fine cities you did not build,

Ulangan 9:1

Theological Justification of the Conquest

9:1 Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan so you can dispossess the nations there, people greater and stronger than you who live in large cities with extremely high fortifications. ⁶ 

Ayub 20:6

20:6 Even though his stature ⁷  reaches to the heavens

and his head touches the clouds,

Yeremia 51:53

51:53 Even if Babylon climbs high into the sky ⁸ 

and fortifies her elevated stronghold, ⁹ 

I will send destroyers against her,” ¹⁰ 

says the Lord. ¹¹ 

[1:28]  ¹ tn Heb “have caused our hearts to melt.”

[1:28]  ² tn Heb “greater.” Many English versions understand this to refer to physical size or strength rather than numbers (cf. “stronger,” NAB, NIV, NRSV; “bigger,” NASB).

[1:28]  ³ tn Or “as the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[1:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “we have seen.”

[1:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “the sons of the Anakim.”

[1:28]  sn Anakites were giant people (Num 13:33; Deut 2:10, 21; 9:2) descended from a certain Anak whose own forefather Arba founded the city of Kiriath Arba, i.e., Hebron (Josh 21:11).

[9:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “fortified to the heavens” (so NRSV); NLT “cities with walls that reach to the sky.” This is hyperbole.

[20:6]  ⁷ tn The word שִׂיא (si’) has been connected with the verb נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift up”), and so interpreted here as “pride.” The form is parallel to “head” in the next part, and so here it refers to his stature, the part that rises up and is crowned. But the verse does describe the pride of such a person, with his head in the heavens.

[51:53]  ⁸ tn Or “ascends [into] heaven.” Note the use of the phrase in Deut 30:12; 2 Kgs 2:11; and Amos 9:2.

[51:53]  ⁹ tn Heb “and even if she fortifies her strong elevated place.”

[51:53]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from me destroyers will go against her.”

[51:53]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”