Deuteronomy 7

1 The Lord your God is going to lead you into the land that you are taking over in order to own it, and will drive out ahead of you many other nations: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations that are larger and stronger than you.

When Yahweh thy God shall bring thee into the land which thou art going in to possess, and shall clear away many nations from before thee—the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites, and the Canaanites and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites—seven nations greater in number and stronger than thou;

2 When the Lord your God has handed them over to you to defeat them, then you must set them apart for destruction. Don't make any peace treaty with them and don't show them any mercy.

and Yahweh thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them, thou shalt devote them to destruction, thou shalt not solemnise with them a covenant neither shalt thou shew them favour;

3 Don't intermarry with them. Don't let your daughters marry their sons or have their daughters marry your sons,

neither shalt thou intermarry with them, —thy daughter, shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter, shalt thou take for thy son;

4 because they will lead your children away from following me to worship other gods. Then the Lord will be angry with you, and he will quickly come and kill you.

for he will turn aside thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, —so shall the anger of Yahweh kindle upon you, and he will destroy thee, speedily.

5 On the contrary, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, knock down their idolatrous pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn down their idols.

Verily, thus, shall ye do unto them: Their altars, shall ye tear down, And their pillars, shall ye break in pieces, —And their sacred stems, shall ye hew down, And their carved images, shall ye burn up in the fire.

6 For you are the Lord your God's holy people. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special people, valued above all other peoples on the earth.

For a holy people, art thou unto Yahweh thy God: of thee, hath Yahweh thy God, made choice, that thou shouldest become his people as a treasure, above all the peoples that are on the face of the ground:

7 It wasn't because there were so many of you that the Lord loved you more than any other nation, in fact he chose you though there were so few of you.

not because ye were more in number than any of the peoples, did Yahweh become attached to you and make choice of you, —for, ye, were fewer than any of the peoples;

8 However, because the Lord loved you and kept the promise he gave to your forefathers, He led you out by his power and rescued you from the prison-house of slavery, from the rule of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

but because Yahweh loved you and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, did Yahweh bring you forth with a firm hand, —and redeem thee out of the house of servants, out of the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 That's why you can be sure that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps his agreement based on trustworthy love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

So then, thou must know that, Yahweh thy God, he, is God, —the faithful GOD, keeping his covenant and his lovingkindness with them that love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations

10 But he doesn't hesitate to pay back those who hate him by destroying them.

but requiting them who hate him unto his face to destroy them, —he will not be slack towards him that hateth him, unto his face, will he requite him.

11 So keep the commandments and rules and regulations that I'm giving you to follow today.

So shalt thou keep the commandment and the statutes and the regulations, which I am commanding thee to-day, to do them.

12 If you listen to these regulations and are careful to observe them, then the Lord your God will keep his agreement and the trustworthy love that he promised to your forefathers.

Then shall it come to pass if ye will hearken unto these regulations, and keep and do them, then will Yahweh thy God keep with thee the covenant and the lovingkindness which he sware unto thy fathers;

13 He will love you and bless you and give you many descendants. He will bless your children and the crops your land produces—your grain, new wine, and olive oil, the calves of your cattle herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that he promised your forefathers to give you.

and will love thee, and bless thee and multiply thee, —and bless the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy ground thy corn and thy new wine and thine oil the young of thy kine and the ewes of thy flock, upon the soil which he swart unto thy fathers to give unto thee.

14 You will be blessed more than any other nation; none of you will be childless, and none of your livestock will fail to have young.

Blessed shalt thou be beyond all the peoples, —there shall not be in thee a barren male or female, nor among thy cattle;

15 The Lord will keep you from having any kind of sickness. He will not let you have any of the terrible diseases you saw in Egypt, but he will let all who hate you suffer from them.

and Yahweh, will turn away, from thee, all disease, —and as for all the sore sicknesses of Egypt which thou knowest, he will not lay them upon thee, but will put them upon all who hate thee;

16 You are to destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Don't look on them with sympathy. Don't worship their gods, for that will end up being a trap to you.

and thou shalt devour all the peoples whom, Yahweh thy God, is delivering up unto thee, thine eye shall not look with pity upon them, neither shalt thou serve their gods, for a snare, would it be unto thee.

17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than us. How on earth can we drive them out?”

Although thou mightest say in thy heart: More in number, are these nations than I, —how can, I dispossess them?

18 But don't be afraid of them. Make sure you remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and the whole of Egypt:

thou must not be afraid of them, —thou must, remember, what Yahweh thy God did, unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt:

19 the amazing tests you witnessed, the signs and miracles, the great power and incredible strength the Lord your God used to lead you out. The Lord your God is going to deal with all the nations you're currently afraid of in the same way.

the great provings which thine own eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the firm hand and the stretched-out arm, wherewith Yahweh thy God brought thee forth, —so, will Yahweh thy God do unto all the peoples, before whom thou art afraid.

20 On top of this, the Lord your God will send the hornet against them until anyone who has survived and anyone hiding from you have been killed.

Moreover also, the hornet, will Yahweh thy God send among them, —until they are destroyed who are left remaining, and who are hiding themselves from thy face.

21 Don't be frightened of these nations, for the Lord your God, who is with you, is a powerful and awesome God.

Thou shalt not be affrighted at their presence, —for Yahweh thy God in thy midst is a Go great and to be revered.

22 The Lord your God will drive out these nations ahead of you in stages. You won't be able to get rid of them all at the same time, or you'd be overwhelmed by wild animals.

So will Yahweh thy God, clear away these nations from before thee little by little, —thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the wild beast of the field should multiply ever thee.

23 But the Lord your God will hand them over to you and throw them into a terrible panic, until they are wiped out.

But Yahweh thy God will deliver them up before thee, —and discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they are destroyed;

24 He will give their defeated kings to you to be killed, and even their names will be forgotten. No one will be able to withstand you; you will completely destroy them.

and will deliver their kings into thy hand and thou shalt destroy their name, from under the heavens, —not a man shall stand before thee, until thou hast destroyed them.

25 You must burn the idols of their god. Don't desire the silver and gold that covers them. Don't take it or otherwise it will be a trap for you because the Lord your God detests anything to do with idols.

The carved images of their gods, shalt thou consume with fire, —thou shalt not covet the silver and gold upon them to take unto thee, lest thou be ensnared thereby; for the abomination of Yahweh thy God, it is;

26 Don't bring any detestable idol into your house, otherwise you will treated just like it—by being set apart for destruction. You are to treat idols as totally despicable, and stay far away from them, because they are set apart for destruction.

and thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, and so become devoted to destruction, like it, thou shalt, abhor, it, and thou shalt, loathe it, because a thing devoted to destruction, it is.