1 “ 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.

When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you are entering to possess and has plucked away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you,

2 W hen 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.

And when the Lord your God gives them over to you and you smite them, then you must utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, or show mercy to them.

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

You shall not make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son nor shall you take his daughter for your son,

4 F or 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.

For they will turn away your sons from following Me, that they may serve other gods; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and He will destroy you quickly.

5 B ut 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.

But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and hew down their Asherim and burn their graven images with fire.

6 “ 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.

For you are a holy and set-apart people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a special people to Himself out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

7 T he 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.

The Lord did not set His love upon you and choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the fewest of all people.

8 B ut 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.

But because the Lord loves you and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 K now 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.

Know, recognize, and understand therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keeps covenant and steadfast love and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations,

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

And repays those who hate Him to their face, by destroying them; He will not be slack to him who hates Him, but will requite him to his face.

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

You shall therefore keep and do the instruction, laws, and precepts which I command you this day.

12 “ 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.

And if you hearken to these precepts and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love which He swore to your fathers.

13 H e 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.

And He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you.

14 M ore 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.

You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.

15 T he 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.

And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt which you knew will He put upon you, but will lay them upon all who hate you.

16 Y ou 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.

And you shall consume all the peoples whom the Lord your God will give over to you; your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

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

If you say in your hearts, These nations are greater than we are; how can we dispossess them?

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

You shall not be afraid of them, but remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt,

19 Y ou 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.

The great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the people of whom you are afraid.

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

Moreover, the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed.

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

You shall not dread them, for the Lord your God is among you, a mighty and terrible God.

22 T he 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.

And the Lord your God will clear out those nations before you, little by little; you may not consume them quickly, lest the beasts of the field increase among you.

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

But the Lord your God will give them over to you and will confuse them with a mighty panic until they are destroyed.

24 H e 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.

And He will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the heavens; there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.

25 Y ou 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.

The graven images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.

26 D o 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.

Neither shall you bring an abomination (an idol) into your house, lest you become an accursed thing like it; but you shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.