Deuteronomy 7
1 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;
“Yahweh our God will bring you to the land that you will soon enter and occupy. As you advance, he will expel from that land seven people-groups that are more powerful and more numerous than you are. He will expel the Heth people-group, the Girgash people-group, the Amor people-group, the Canaan people-group, the Periz people-group, the Hiv people-group, and the Jebus people-group.
2 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;
When Yahweh our God enables you to defeat [DOU] them, you must kill all of them. You must not make (an alliance/a peace treaty) with any of them. You must not act mercifully toward them.
3 neither shalt thou intermarry with them, —thy daughter, shalt thou not give unto his son, nor his daughter, shalt thou take for thy son;
You must not marry any of them. You must not allow your daughters to marry any of their sons or allow your sons to marry any of their daughters.
4 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.
Because, if you did that, those people would cause your children to stop worshiping Yahweh and to worship other gods. If that happens, Yahweh will be very angry with you and he will get rid of you immediately.
5 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.
This is what you must do to those people: Tear down their (altars/places for sacrificing animals), break apart the stone pillars [that are dedicated to their male god Baal], cut down the [poles that they use when they worship the goddess] Asherah, and burn their [wooden] idols.
6 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:
You must do that because you are a group of people who belong to Yahweh our God. He has chosen you from among all the people-groups in the world to be his own special people.
7 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;
“It was not because you were more numerous than any other people-group that Yahweh preferred you; you are one of the smallest people-groups on the earth.
8 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.
Instead, it is because Yahweh loved you and because he wanted to do what he vowed to your ancestors. That is the reason that he rescued you by his great power [MTY], and freed you from being slaves [MTY] of the king of Egypt.
9 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
So do not forget that Yahweh our God is the only/true God. He will do what he agreed to do for you, and he will faithfully love (for 1,000 generations/forever) all those who love him and who obey his commandments.
10 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.
But for those who hate him, he will (pay them back/do to them what they deserve); he will punish them and quickly get rid of them.
11 So shalt thou keep the commandment and the statutes and the regulations, which I am commanding thee to-day, to do them.
“So you must be sure to obey all the commandments and rules and regulations that I am giving to you today.
12 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;
If you heed these commands and obey them faithfully, Yahweh our God will do what he has agreed to do for you, and he will faithfully love you, which is what he vowed to your ancestors that he would do.
13 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.
He will love you and bless you. He will enable you to have many children [DOU]. He will bless your fields, with the result that you will have plenty of grain and [grapes to make] wine and plenty of [olive] oil. You will have many cattle and sheep. He will do all these things for you in the land that he promised to your ancestors that he would give to you.
14 Blessed shalt thou be beyond all the peoples, —there shall not be in thee a barren male or female, nor among thy cattle;
He will bless you more than he will bless any other people-group. All of you will be able to have/produce children [LIT]. All of your livestock will be able to produce offspring.
15 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;
And Yahweh will protect you from all illnesses. You will not be afflicted with any of the dreadful diseases that [our ancestors knew about] in Egypt, but all your enemies will be inflicted with those diseases.
16 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.
You must get rid of all the people-groups that Yahweh our God will enable you to conquer. Do not [SYN] act mercifully toward any of them. And do not worship their gods, because if you do that, it would be like falling into a trap [from which you will never be able to escape].
17 Although thou mightest say in thy heart: More in number, are these nations than I, —how can, I dispossess them?
“Do not think to yourselves, ‘These people-groups are more numerous/powerful than we are, so we certainly cannot [RHQ] expel them.’
18 thou must not be afraid of them, —thou must, remember, what Yahweh thy God did, unto Pharaoh and unto all Egypt:
Do not be afraid of them. Instead, think about what Yahweh our God did to the king of Egypt and to all the people whom he [ruled].
19 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.
Do not forget the terrible plagues that your ancestors saw [Yahweh inflict on the people of Egypt], and the many [DOU] miracles [that he performed], and the very powerful [DOU, MTY] way by which he brought your ancestors out [of Egypt]. Yahweh our God will do the same kind of things to the people-groups that you are afraid of now.
20 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.
Furthermore, he will cause them to become terrified, and he will destroy those who remain alive and run away to hide from you.
21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at their presence, —for Yahweh thy God in thy midst is a Go great and to be revered.
Do not be afraid of those people, because Yahweh our God will be with/among you. He is a great God; he is the one you should be afraid of.
22 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.
He will expel those people-groups gradually. You should not [try to] expel all of them at one time, because if you did that, the number of wild animals would quickly increase, [and you would not be able to get rid of them].
23 But Yahweh thy God will deliver them up before thee, —and discomfit them with a great discomfiture, until they are destroyed;
Instead, Yahweh will enable you to defeat your enemies [one people-group at a time]. He will cause them to panic until they are destroyed.
24 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.
He will enable you to defeat [IDM] their kings. After you kill them, their names will be forgotten {people will forget about them}. No people-group will be able to stop you; you will destroy all of them.
25 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;
You must burn the wooden idols [that represent] their gods. Do not desire to take the silver or gold [decorations] that are on those idols, because if you take them for yourselves, they will be like a trap [to cause you to want to worship those idols]. Yahweh hates [the worship of those idols].
26 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.
You must not bring any of those disgusting idols into your houses, because if you do that, God will curse you like he curses them. You must hate and despise [DOU] those idols, because they are things that [Yahweh] has cursed.”
