TO BE STRONG, bold, firm — and the second half of the great charge formula chazak ve-ematz, ‘be strong and resolute,’ that will be given to Joshua three times over (Joshua 1:6-9, already on these pages) and echoed back to him by the people at v18. Its first appearance in this translation is the opposite of encouragement: Deuteronomy 2:30 uses it of Sihon king of Heshbon, whose heart Jehovah ‘strengthened’ — the identical root that steadies a leader for the crossing here seals a king in his refusal to allow one. The verb is morally neutral; whether it reads as courage or obstinacy depends entirely on which side of God’s purpose it is describing. → first discussed at Deut 2:30