Deuteronomy 7

1 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;

When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, he will drive out 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 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:

It is Yahweh your God who gives them over to you when you defeat them, and then you must completely destroy them. You will make no covenant with them, and show them no mercy.

3 Do not take wives or husbands from among them; do not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons.

Neither will you arrange any marriages with them. You will not give your daughters to their sons, and you will not take their daughters for your sons.

4 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.

For they will turn away your sons from following me, so that they may worship other gods. So the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly.

5 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.

This is how you will deal with them: You will break down their altars, dash their stone pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their cast idols.

6 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.

For you are a nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God. He has chosen you to be a people for him to possess, more than all the other peoples that are on the face of the earth.

7 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:

Yahweh did not set his love upon you or choose you because you were more in number than any people—for you were the fewest of all peoples—

8 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.

but because he loves you, and he wished to keep the oath that he had sworn to your fathers. This is why Yahweh 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 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;

Therefore know that Yahweh your God—he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenants and faithfulness for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments,

10 Rewarding his haters to their face with destruction; he will have no mercy on his hater, but will give him open punishment.

but repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them; he will not be lenient on whoever hates him; he will repay him to his face.

11 So keep the orders and the laws and the decisions which I give you today and do them.

You will therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the decrees that I command you today, so that you will do them.

12 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.

If you listen to these decrees, and keep and do them, it will happen that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the faithfulness that he swore to your fathers.

13 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.

He will love you, bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, and your oil, the multiplication of your cattle and the young of your flocks, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

14 You will have greater blessings than any other people: no male or female among you or among your cattle will be without offspring.

You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a childless male or a barren female among you or among your cattle.

15 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.

Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; none of the evil diseases of Egypt that you have known will he put on you, but he will put them on all those who hate you.

16 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.

You will consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God will give over to you, and your eye will not pity them. You will not worship their gods, for that will be a trap for you.

17 If you say in your hearts, These nations are greater in number than we are: how are we to take their land from them?

If you say in your heart, 'These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?'—

18 Have no fear of them, but keep well in mind what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;

do not be afraid of them; you will call to mind what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;

19 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.

the great sufferings that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. Yahweh your God will do the same to all the peoples whom you fear.

20 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.

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

21 Have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, a great God greatly to be feared.

You will not be frightened at them, for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and fearsome God.

22 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.

Yahweh your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will not defeat them all at once, or the wild animals would become very many around you.

23 But the Lord your God will give them up into your hands, overpowering them till their destruction is complete.

But Yahweh your God will give you victory over them when you meet them in battle; he will greatly confuse them until they are destroyed.

24 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.

He will put their kings under your power, and you will make their name perish from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.

25 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:

You will burn the carved figures of their gods—do not covet the silver or the gold that covers them and take it for yourself, because if you do, you will become trapped by it—for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

26 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.

You will not bring any abomination into your house and start to worship it. You will utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.