< Deuteronomy 7 >

1 When Adonai your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you, the Hittite [Descendant of Trembling fear], the Girgashite, the Amorite [Descendants of Talkers], the Canaanite [Descendant of Humbled], the Perizzite [Descendant of Belonging to village], the Hivite [Wicked], and the Jebusite [Descendants of Thresher], seven nations greater and mightier than you;
When the Lord your God takes you into the land where you are going, which is to be your heritage, and has sent out the nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and stronger than you;
2 and when Adonai your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them;
And when the Lord has given them up into your hands and you have overcome them, give them up to complete destruction: make no agreement with them, and have no mercy on them:
3 neither shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.
Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.
4 For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may abad ·serve· other deities. So Adonai’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
For through them your sons will be turned from me to the worship of other gods: and the Lord will be moved to wrath against you and send destruction on you quickly.
5 But you shall deal with them like this. You shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, and cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.
But this is what you are to do to them: their altars are to be pulled down and their pillars broken, and their holy trees cut down and their images burned with fire.
6 For you are a holy people to Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you to be a le'am segulah ·people of special treasure· for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
For you are a holy people to the Lord your God: marked out by the Lord your God to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth.
7 Adonai didn’t set his chasak ·to set one’s affection, to make bands· on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples:
The Lord did not give you his love or take you for himself because you were more in number than any other people; for you were the smallest of the nations:
8 but because Adonai loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Adonai 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 [Abode of slavery].
But because of his love for you, and in order to keep his oath to your fathers, the Lord took you out with the strength of his hand, making you free from the prison-house and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9 Know therefore that Adonai your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and cheshed ·loving-kindness· with them who 'ahav ·affectionately love· him and keep his mitzvot ·instructions· to a thousand generations,
Be certain, then, that the Lord your God is God; whose faith and mercy are unchanging, who keeps his word through a thousand generations to those who have love for him and keep his laws;
10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.
Rewarding his haters to their face with destruction; he will have no mercy on his hater, but will give him open punishment.
11 You shall therefore keep the mitzvot ·instructions·, the statutes, and the judgments, which I enjoin you today, to do them.
So keep the orders and the laws and the decisions which I give you today and do them.
12 It shall happen, because you sh'ma ·hear obey· these judgments, and keep and do them, that Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant and the cheshed ·loving-kindness· which he swore to your fathers.
And it will be, that if you give attention to these decisions and keep and do them, then the Lord will keep his agreement with you and his mercy, as he said in his oath to your fathers.
13 He will 'ahav ·affectionately love· you, bless you, multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.
And he will give you his love, blessing you and increasing you: he will send his blessing on the offspring of your body and the fruit of your land, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which by his oath to your fathers he undertook to give you.
14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. There shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.
You will have greater blessings than any other people: no male or female among you or among your cattle will be without offspring.
15 Adonai will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt [Abode of slavery], which you know, will he put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.
And the Lord will take away from you all disease, and will not put on you any of the evil diseases of Egypt which you have seen, but will put them on your haters.
16 You shall consume all the peoples whom Adonai your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you abad ·serve· their deities; for that would be a snare to you.
And you are to send destruction on all the peoples which the Lord your God gives into your hands; have no pity on them, and do not give worship to their gods; for that will be a cause of sin to you.
17 If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”
If you say in your hearts, These nations are greater in number than we are: how are we to take their land from them?
18 you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt [Abode of slavery];
Have no fear of them, but keep well in mind what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;
19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Adonai your God brought you out. So shall Adonai your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.
The great punishments which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders and the strong hand and the stretched-out arm, by which the Lord your God took you out: so will the Lord your God do to all the peoples who are the cause of your fears.
20 Moreover Adonai your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.
And the Lord will send a hornet among them, till all the rest who have kept themselves safe from you in secret places have been cut off.
21 You shall not be scared of them; for Adonai your God is among you, a great and awesome God.
Have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, a great God greatly to be feared.
22 Adonai your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.
The Lord your God will send out the nations before you little by little; they are not to be rooted out quickly, for fear that the beasts of the field may be increased overmuch against you.
23 But Adonai your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed.
But the Lord your God will give them up into your hands, overpowering them till their destruction is complete.
24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.
He will give their kings into your hands, and you will put their names out of existence under heaven; there is not one of them who will not give way before you, till their destruction is complete.
25 You shall burn the engraved images of their deities with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Adonai your God.
The images of their gods are to be burned with fire: have no desire for the gold and silver on them, and do not take it for yourselves, for it will be a danger to you: it is a thing disgusting to the Lord your God:
26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
And you may not take a disgusting thing into your house, and so become cursed with its curse: but keep yourselves from it, turning from it with fear and hate, for it is a cursed thing.

< Deuteronomy 7 >