שמע ישראל אתה עובר היום את הירדן, "Hear, O Israel: you are going to cross the river Jordan this day.⁠" The word שמע in this context means "pay attention to this statement.⁠" What did Moses want the Israelites to pay attention to, seeing this was not the date on which they would cross the Jordan, something which was quite clear to them? Moses wanted to draw a line between them and himself. Whereas on this day he knew that he would not cross the Jordan, they knew that they were slated to cross the Jordan. By saying אתה, "you,⁠" Moses implied "you and not I.⁠" According to Devarim Rabbah 3,11 Moses phrased this line so that the Israelites would understand that they should plead with God on his behalf to permit him to cross the river Jordan. Moses was afraid the Israelites would not get the hint; therefore he emphasized the word היום, "this day,⁠" meaning that the difference between them was only on that day, i.e. that they would cross now whereas he would not. There would, however, come a time when he too would be allowed to cross the Jordan as we learned in the Zohar volume two page 120 on the verse כימי צאתך מארץ מצרים (Michah 7,15). We deduce from that verse that Moses will lead the Israelites into the Holy Land at the time discussed by the prophet.

עם גדול ורם בני ענקים, "a people great and tall the sons of giants.⁠" If the Israelites were aware of the nature of these people as is evident from the words אשר ידעת, "whom you know,⁠" what was the point in Moses mentioning their attributes? Why did he say twice אתה…ואתה? It would have sufficed to write אתה ידעת ושמעת. The answer is that Moses addressed two groups of people. The first and numerically by far the largest group were the עם בני ישראל. The second group who comprised only Joshua and Caleb were the spiritual elite of the people, especially Joshua who was to be the leader of the people, ready to rule over them. Moses began to address the elite, especially Joshua saying to him: אתה ידעת", "you know (from personal experience),⁠" as he had specific knowledge of the people of Canaan having spied out the land some 38 years earlier. As to the multitude of Israelites, Moses said ואתה שמעת "and you have heard about it.⁠"

וידעת היום, "and you know as of this day, etc.⁠" Moses emphasizes the word "this day" to remind the people that they will not acquire this knowledge only after the conquest but they know as a fact already now that God will pass ahead of them, etc. It was important that the people should acknowledge this as fact prior to it actually having happened.

אל תאמר בלבבו, "Do not say in your heart, etc.⁠" We can appreciate that the Israelites were not to credit their own righteousness as the reason they dispossessed the inhabitants of the land of Canaan and therefore Moses had to warn them not to do so. However, why were they not to credit their possession of the land to the sins of the Canaanites when the Torah itself gives this as the reason in verse 5? Perhaps Moses was afraid that the Israelites would think that they were only forbidden to take exclusive credit for conquering the land by ascribing it to their righteousness. However, as long as they would acknowledge that both their own righteousness coupled with the wickedness of the local inhabitants had led to those inhabitants being expelled or killed, this would be acceptable, Moses said that no thought of their own righteousness was acceptable under any circumstances.

לא בצדקתך, "Not because of your righteousness, etc.⁠" Moses meant that the Israelites' righteousness was not a reason for allowing them to dispossess other nations. This did not mean, however, that they were not a spiritually upright generation. Moses said something similar to the people in Deut. 4,4 when he attributed their being alive to their having cleaved to God. Such conduct does not, however, mean that other nations were to be killed on account of the Israelites' goodness. Had there not been a covenant with the patriarchs, God could not have justified expelling and killing the Canaanites on account of the Israelites. At the same time, the oath sworn by God to the patriarchs by itself would also not have resulted in the Israelites' victory over the Canaanites if they had not been wicked. We have a Mishnah in Eydiot 2,9 which states that "although a father confers upon his son certain attributes (genes) such as handsome appearance, intelligence, etc. etc., there is a limit to the effectiveness of such transfer of parental genes after a number of generations. The Mishnah bases this statement on Isaiah 41,4 קורא הדורות מראש, "He (God) determines ahead of time for how long the father can transmit his genes to successive generations.⁠" Raavad comments as follows on this statement. "God foresees whether a generation is deserving, and if so He allows these genes to be transmitted from father to son until a deserving generation arises such as the generation of Joshua. Thus far Raavad. From this we learn that in addition to God's promise to the fathers it is also essential that their descendants be worthy of that promise. Accordingly, Moses told the people that their righteousness was not enough by itself to bring about their conquest of the Holy Land. In fact their righteousness did not even help the oath to Abraham to be fulfilled. The only thing it was good for was to ensure that their conduct was no impediment to the good that God had promised being fulfilled now.

בי ברשעת הגוים…ולמען הקים…אשר נשבע, "for due to the wickedness of those nations…and in order to keep the oath which God swore, etc.⁠" None of these reasons would have sufficed by itself. Had the Canaanite nations not been wicked God would not have had a legal excuse to dispossess them. Their wickedness by itself was not reason enough to give their land to the Israelites unless the Israelites had also proved worthy to take that land. It is also possible that the meaning of the word מורישם is "He destroys them.⁠" If that is so, these people certainly had to be wicked as God would not decree upon them what He did in Deut. 20,16: "you must not allow a soul of theirs to remain alive.⁠"

וידעת כי לא בצדקתך... זכור אל תשכח, "Know therefore that not because of your righteousness …Remember and do not forget!⁠" What did Moses hope to accomplish by admonishing the Israelites about their having had stiff-necked wicked people amongst them in the past? Perhaps their present righteousness would suffice to let them inherit the land and even to be able to point to their righteousness as the reason for this. Moses' reason may have been that the people reflected that even at the times they had been rebellious this did not result in their march towards the Holy Land coming to a halt. They had explained this anomaly to themselves by reasoning that God had to fulfill His oath to the patriarchs. Moses therefore wanted to make it plain that their own righteousness was essential in bringing about fulfillment of that oath. If they were to backslide they could still forfeit the promise to inherit the land.