Judges 11:23

23 “Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over?

Judges 11:23 in Other Translations

23 So now the LORD God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess it?

23 So then the LORD, the God of Israel, dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel; and are you to take possession of them?

23 “So you see, it was the LORD, the God of Israel, who took away the land from the Amorites and gave it to Israel. Why, then, should we give it back to you?

23 It was God, the God of Israel, who pushed out the Amorites in favor of Israel; so who do you think you are to try to take it over?

23 So now Jehovah, the God of Israel, hath dispossessed the Amorites from before his people Israel, and shouldest thou possess them?

23 "The LORD God of Israel forced the Amorites out of the way of his people Israel. So what right do you have to take it back?

23 "The Lord God of Israel has now driven out the Amorites before His people Israel, but will you drive us out?

23 "The Lord, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out to make room for his people. So what right do you have to take it over?

Judges 11:23 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 11:23

So now the Lord God of Israel hath dispossessed the Amorites
from before his people Israel
It is his doing, and not the work of the Israelites; it is he that dispossessed the Amorites, and put the Israelites into the possession of their land, and therefore they enjoy it by a good tenure:

and shouldest thou possess it?
what through the blessing of God on their arms they have obtained by conquest, and he has settled them in; did they conquer, that thou should possess what they conquered? did their God put it into their hands to deliver it into thine? did they fight to recover for thee what thou hadst lost, and to put thee into the possession of it? did not they fight in their own defence, and their enemies and their land fell into their hands, and by the laws and right of nations became theirs? and canst thou expect to possess it? what reason is there for it?

Judges 11:23 In-Context

21 “Then the LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and his whole army into Israel’s hands, and they defeated them. Israel took over all the land of the Amorites who lived in that country,

22 capturing all of it from the Arnon to the Jabbok and from the desert to the Jordan.

23 “Now since the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven the Amorites out before his people Israel, what right have you to take it over?

24 Will you not take what your god Chemosh gives you? Likewise, whatever the LORD our God has given us, we will possess.

25 Are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever quarrel with Israel or fight with them?