¹²Pay attention to the laws of the Lord your God. Be careful to obey them. Then he will keep his covenant of love with you. That’s what he promised with an oath to your people long ago.

¹³The Lord will love you and bless you. He’ll increase your numbers. He’ll give you many children. He’ll bless the crops of your land. He’ll give you plenty of grain, olive oil and fresh wine. He’ll bless your herds with many calves. He’ll give your flocks many lambs. He’ll do all of those things for you in the land of Canaan. It’s the land he promised your people long ago that he would give you. ¹⁴He will bless you more than any other nation. All of your men and women will have children. All of your livestock will have little ones.

¹⁵The Lord will keep you from getting sick. He won’t send on you any of the horrible sicknesses you saw all around you in Egypt. But he’ll send them on everyone who hates you.

¹⁶You must destroy all of the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t serve their gods. If you do, they will be a trap for you.

¹⁷You might say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” ¹⁸But don’t be afraid of them.

Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all of the Egyptians. ¹⁹With your own eyes you saw what the Lord did to them. You saw his miraculous signs and wonders. He reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm. The Lord your God used all of those things to bring you out. He will do the same things to all of the nations you are now afraid of.

²⁰The Lord your God will also send hornets among them. Some of the people who are left alive will hide from you. But even they will die. ²¹So don’t be terrified by them. The Lord your God is with you. He is a great and wonderful God.

²²The Lord your God will drive out those nations to make room for you. But he will do it little by little. You won’t be allowed to get rid of them all at once. If you did, wild animals would multiply all around you.

²³But the Lord your God will hand those nations over to you. He will throw them into a panic until they are destroyed. ²⁴He will hand their kings over to you. You will wipe out their names from the earth. No one will be able to stand up against you. You will destroy them.

²⁵Burn the statues of their gods in the fire. Don’t long for the silver and gold that is on those statues. Don’t take it for yourselves. If you do, it will be a trap for you. The Lord your God hates it. ²⁶Don’t bring anything he hates into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. So hate it with all your heart. It is set apart to be destroyed.

Read in Logos