1 ¶ When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land into which thou must enter to inherit it and has cast out many Gentiles before thee, the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

“The Lord your God will bring you into the land you are taking for your own. He will drive away many nations in front of you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations bigger and stronger than you.

2 a nd when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them nor show mercy unto them.

When the Lord your God gives them to you and you win the battles against them, you must destroy all of them. Make no agreement with them and show no favor to them.

3 N either shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.

Do not take any of them in marriage. Do not give your daughters to their sons. And do not take their daughters for your sons.

4 F or they will turn away thy son from following me that they may serve other gods; and the anger of the LORD will be kindled upon you and destroy thee suddenly.

For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you. And He will be quick to destroy you.

5 B ut thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall destroy their altars and break down their images and cut down their groves and burn their graven images in the fire.

But do this to them: Break down their altars. Crush their objects of worship. Cut down their female goddess Asherim. And burn their false gods with fire.

6 F or thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God; the LORD thy God has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, different from all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

“For you are a holy nation to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the nations on the earth, to be His own.

7 N ot because ye were more than the other peoples has the LORD desired you and chosen you; for ye were the fewest of all the peoples;

The Lord did not give you His love and choose you because you were more people than any of the nations. For the number of your people was less than all nations.

8 b ut because the LORD loved you and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, has the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand and ransomed you out of the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

But it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the promise He made to your fathers. So the Lord brought you out by a strong hand. He set you free from the land where you were servants, and from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 K now, therefore, that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and mercy with those that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations

Know then that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God. He keeps His promise and shows His loving-kindness to those who love Him and keep His Laws, even to a thousand family groups in the future.

10 a nd repays him that hates him to his face, to destroy him; he will not be slack to him that hates him; he will repay him to his face.

But He destroys those who hate Him. He will not show kindness to the one who hates Him, but will punish him to his face.

11 K eep, therefore, the commandments and statutes and rights, which I command thee this day, to do them.

So keep and obey all the Laws I am telling you today. Good Comes to Those Who Obey

12 ¶ And it shall come to pass, for having heard these rights and for having kept them by doing them that the LORD thy God shall keep the covenant with thee and the mercy which he swore unto thy fathers;

“If you listen to these Laws and keep and obey them, the Lord your God will keep His agreement and loving-kindness as He promised to your fathers.

13 a nd he will love thee and bless thee and multiply thee; he will also bless the fruit of thy womb and the fruit of thy land, thy grain and thy wine and thine oil, the increase of thy cows and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee.

He will love you and bring good to you and make you a nation of many. He will bring good to your children and the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine and your oil. And He will give you many cattle and young ones in your flock, in the land He promised to your fathers to give you.

14 T hou shalt be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you or among your beasts.

More good will come to you than to any other nation. There will be no male or female among you or your cattle that is not able to have young ones.

15 A nd the LORD will take away from thee all sickness and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee, but will lay them upon all those that hate thee.

The Lord will take all sickness from you. He will not let any bad diseases come upon you that you have known in Egypt. But He will give them to all who hate you.

16 A nd thou shalt consume all the peoples which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.

You will destroy all the nations the Lord your God will give to you. You will not pity them or worship their gods, for that would be a trap to you.

17 W hen thou shalt say in thy heart, These Gentiles are more than I; how can I dispossess them?

“You may say in your heart, ‘These nations are stronger than I. How can I drive them out?’

18 D o not be afraid of them; remember well what the LORD thy God did with Pharaoh and with all Egypt;

But you will not be afraid of them. You will remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.

19 o f the great trials which thine eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD thy God brought thee out; so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the peoples of whose presence thou art afraid.

You will remember the hard trials you saw, the powerful works, and the strong hand and powerful arm the Lord your God used to bring you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the nations who make you afraid.

20 M oreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them until those that are left and hide themselves from thee are destroyed.

And the Lord your God will send the hornet against them. Those who are left will hide themselves from you and be destroyed.

21 T hou shalt not faint before them; for the LORD thy God is among you, a great and terrible God.

You will not be afraid of them. For the Lord your God is among you, a great and powerful God.

22 A nd the LORD thy God will put out those Gentiles before thee little by little; thou may not consume them at once lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

The Lord your God will drive away these nations in front of you one by one. You will not be able to destroy them in a short time, or the wild animals may become too many for you.

23 B ut the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction until they are destroyed.

But the Lord your God will give them to you. He will bring much trouble upon them until they are destroyed.

24 A nd he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand before thee until thou hast destroyed them.

He will give their kings into your hand. And you will destroy their name from under heaven. No man will be able to stand in front of you until you have destroyed them.

25 T he graven images of their gods ye shall burn in the fire; thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them nor take it unto thee lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.

You must burn with fire their objects of worship. Do not want the silver or gold that is on them, or take it for yourselves. It would be a trap to you, for it is a hated thing to the Lord your God.

26 N either shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house lest thou become an anathema like it, but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is anathema.

Do not bring a hated thing into your house. You would become hated also. But turn from it with fear and hate, for bad will come from it.