Deuteronomy 2:10 is a short historical note inserted into Moses’ farewell speech. It tells the Israelites that before they arrived, the land of Moab was already home to a large, tall people called the Emim, and it explains that they were once counted among the giants known as the Anakim. Moses is speaking to the Israelites on the plains of Moab, just before they enter the land God promised them, and the verse is one of several parenthetical notes he adds about peoples who lived in the regions around them.
(The Emim lived therein before, a people great, and many, and tall, as the Anakim.
Deuteronomy 2:10 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 2:10 Means
The verse begins with “The Emim lived therein before,” which tells you that this people had occupied the territory earlier, long before Israel came near. The Emim are described as “a people great, and many, and tall,” meaning they were numerous, strong, and of impressive stature. The comparison to the Anakim, who were famous for their size, helps the original hearers picture them. The point is not that the Emim were monsters or myths, but that they were a real and formidable population that had once held the ground now being passed through.
What the verse does not do is give you a lesson about personal courage or a promise that God will overcome your own giants. It is a piece of history recorded in the middle of a larger command. Its job is to show that the land has a past, and that the people now receiving it are not the first to live there. Reading it as a motivational line about facing obstacles stretches it beyond what Moses intended.
The Context of Deuteronomy 2:10
Deuteronomy is Moses’ final address to Israel as they stand on the border of Canaan after forty years in the wilderness. Traditionally Moses is credited with the book, and its audience is the new generation who will cross the Jordan, not the generation that left Egypt. Chapter 2 retells the journey through the lands of Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites, reminding the people that God had already given those nations their own territories and had told Israel not to attack them.
Read in that setting, verse 10 belongs to a pattern. Just before it, in verse 9, God says He has given Ar to the descendants of Lot, and just after it, in verses 11 and 12, Moses notes that the Horites were displaced by Esau’s descendants, and that Israel has done the same elsewhere. The parenthesis about the Emim is one example in a series showing that God directs the movement of nations and grants each people its land. That is why the verse reads most naturally as a reminder of God’s sovereignty over every territory, not as a standalone note about ancient giants.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 2:10
Deuteronomy 2:9
The LORD said to me, “Don’t bother Moab, neither contend with them in battle; for I will not give you any of his land for a possession; because I have given Ar to the children of Lot for a possession.”
(WEB)
This verse comes right before Deuteronomy 2:10 and records God’s instruction not to contend with Moab because He had given Ar to the children of Lot. Reading it alongside verse 10 shows that the Emim detail sits inside a larger message about God assigning lands to different peoples.
Deuteronomy 2:12
The Horites also lived in Seir before, but the children of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place; as Israel did to the land of his possession, which the LORD gave to them.)
(WEB)
This verse continues the parenthetical history, explaining that the Horites were displaced by Esau’s descendants. Together with verse 10, it shows a consistent pattern in which God gives each nation its place, and it connects Israel’s own inheritance to that same divine ordering.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 2:10
Lord, you knew every people who lived in the land before us, and you knew how strong and numerous they were. Thank you that nothing about the past catches you by surprise. When I feel overshadowed by those who came before me in any place or role, remind me that you are the one who gives each season its ground. Help me walk forward in trust rather than fear, knowing that you have been present in every chapter of the story. Amen.
