TO BE STRONG, firm, resolute — the verb of nerve and grip. It is the word behind Pharaoh’s hardened heart (the heart made strong, not softened), behind ‘his STRONG hand and outstretched arm’ (Deuteronomy 11:2, already on these pages), and above all behind the charge to a commander: chazaq ve-ematz, ‘be strong and courageous’. ⭐ Which is what makes Deuteronomy 12:23 worth stopping at. The exact phrase rak chazaq, ‘only be strong’, stands in three verses of the whole Hebrew Bible: that one, and Joshua 1:7 and 1:18, both spoken to Joshua about invading a country. In Deuteronomy it introduces a rule about not eating blood. The Hebrew treats abstinence as an act requiring the same quality as war. ⚠ Most of the English shelf translates the nerve out of it — KJV, ASV, Geneva and NIV all read ‘be sure’ — while the NWT keeps ‘firmly resolved’ and the Reina-Valera of 1909 «te esfuerces». The Geneva translators knew: their own margin at that verse reads, in full, ‘Hebrew, be strong or constant.’ → first discussed at Deut 12:23