Deuteronomy 7

Israel to Destroy Idolatrous Nations

7“When the Lord your God brings you into the land ^xyou are entering to possess, ^yand He drives out many nations before you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations ^zmore numerous and powerful than you ^a2and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy ^bthem. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy. ^c3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ^d4because they will turn your sons away from Me to worship other gods. ^eThen the Lord’s anger will burn against you, ^fand He will swiftly destroy you. ⁵Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, ^gand burn up their carved images. ⁶For you are a holy people ^hbelonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own possession ⁱout of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷“The Lord was devoted to you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸But because the Lord loved ^jyou and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed ^kyou from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commands. ^l10But He directly pays back ^mand destroys those who hate Him. ⁿHe will not hesitate to directly pay back ^othe one who hates Him. ¹¹So keep the command—the statutes and ordinances—that I am giving you to follow today.

¹²“If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the Lord your God will keep His covenant loyalty with you, as He swore to your fathers. ^p13He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your descendants, ^qrand the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil—the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you. ¹⁴You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock. ¹⁵The Lord will remove all sickness from you; He will not put on you ^sall the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but He will inflict them on all who hate you. ¹⁶You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷“If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’ ¹⁸do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: ¹⁹the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong 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 fear. ²⁰The Lord your God will also send the hornet against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish. ^t21Don’t be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, a great and awesome God, is among you. ²²The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you. ^u23The Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them. ²⁵You must burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is abhorrent to the Lord your God. ²⁶You must not bring any abhorrent thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.