The Angel of the Presence

23:20 46 “I am going to send47 an angel48 before you to protect you as you journey49 and to bring you into the place that I have prepared.50 23:21 Take heed because of him, and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for my name51 is in him. 23:22 But if you diligently obey him52 and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries. 23:23 For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will destroy them completely.53

23:24 “You must not bow down to their gods; you must not serve them or do according to their practices. Instead you must completely overthrow them and smash their standing stones54 to pieces.55 23:25 You must serve56 the Lord your God, and he57 will bless your bread and your water,58 and I will remove sickness from your midst. 23:26 No woman will miscarry her young59 or be barren in your land. I will fulfill60 the number of your days.

23:27 “I will send my terror61 before you, and I will destroy62 all the people whom you encounter; I will make all your enemies turn their backs63 to you. 23:28 I will send64 hornets before you that will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before you. 23:29 I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals65 multiply against you. 23:30 Little by little66 I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land. 23:31 I will set67 your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River,68 for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

23:32 “You must make no covenant with them or with their gods. 23:33 They must not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare69 to you.”