< Deuteronomy 7 >

1 “When your God YHWH brings you into the land to where you are going in to possess it, and He has cast out many nations from your presence, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and mighty than you,
When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—
2 and your God YHWH has given them before you, then you have struck them—you utterly devote them—you do not make a covenant with them, nor do you favor them.
and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
3 And you do not join in marriage with them; you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter to your son,
Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
4 for he turns aside your son from after Me, and they have served other gods; and the anger of YHWH has burned against you and has destroyed you quickly.
because 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 swiftly destroy you.
5 But thus you do to them: you break down their altars, and you shatter their standing pillars, and you cut down their Asherim, and you burn their carved images with fire.
Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
6 For you [are] a holy people to your God YHWH; your God YHWH has fixed on you, to be to Him for a peculiar people, out of all the peoples who [are] on the face of the ground.
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
7 YHWH has delighted in you and fixes on you, not because of your being more numerous than any of the peoples, for you [are] the least of all the peoples,
The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 but because of YHWH’s loving you, and because of His keeping the oath which He has sworn to your fathers; YHWH has brought you out by a strong hand, and ransoms you from a house of servants, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 And you have known that He, your God YHWH, [is] God, the faithful God keeping the covenant and the kindness with those loving Him and with those keeping His commands, for one thousand generations,
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
10 and repaying to those hating Him to their face, to destroy them; He does not delay to him who is hating Him, He repays [it] to him to his face.
But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
11 And you have kept the command, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I am commanding you today to do them.
So keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I am giving you to follow this day.
12 And it has been, because you hear these judgments, and have kept and done them, that your God YHWH has kept the covenant and the kindness with you which He has sworn to your fathers,
If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers.
13 and has loved you, and blessed you, and multiplied you, and has blessed the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your oxen, and the wealth of your flock, on the ground which He has sworn to your fathers to give to you.
He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
14 Blessed are you above all the peoples; there is not a barren man or a barren woman in you—nor among your livestock;
You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.
15 and YHWH has turned aside every sickness from you, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt (which you have known) does He put on you, and He has put them on all hating you.
And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
16 And you have consumed all the peoples whom your God YHWH is giving to you; your eye has no pity on them, and you do not serve their gods, for it [is] a snare to you.
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 When you say in your heart, These nations [are] more numerous than I, how am I able to dispossess them?
You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
18 You are not afraid of them; you surely remember that which your God YHWH has done to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt,
But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:
19 the great trials which your eyes have seen, and the signs, and the wonders, and the strong hand, and the outstretched arm, with which your God YHWH has brought you out; so does your God YHWH do to all the peoples of whose presence you are afraid.
the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
20 And your God YHWH also sends the locust among them, until the destruction of those who are left, even those who are hidden from your presence;
Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.
21 you are not terrified by their presence, for your God YHWH [is] in your midst, a God great and fearful.
Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
22 And your God YHWH has cast out these nations from your presence little [by] little (you are not able to consume them quickly, lest the beast of the field multiplies against you),
The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.
23 and your God YHWH has given them before you, and confused them [with] a great destruction until their being destroyed;
But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
24 and He has given their kings into your hand, and you have destroyed their name from under the heavens; no man stations himself in your presence until you have destroyed them.
He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.
25 You burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you do not desire the silver and gold on them, nor have you taken [it] for yourself, lest you are snared by it, for it [is] an abomination [to] your God YHWH;
You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
26 and you do not bring in an abomination to your house, or you have been devoted like it—you utterly detest it and you utterly abhor it; for it [is] devoted.”
And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.

< Deuteronomy 7 >