Deuteronomy 7

A Chosen People

1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out many 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 mightier than you,2 and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.3 Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son.4 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.5 But thus you shall deal with them: you shall destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.6 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.7 The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;8 but because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.9 Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face.11 Therefore you shall keep the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which I command you today, to observe them.

Blessings of Obedience

12 Then it shall come to pass, because you listen to these judgments, and keep and do them, that the Lord your God will keep with you the covenant and the mercy which He swore to your fathers.13 And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you.14 You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and will afflict you with none of the terrible diseases of Egypt which you have known, but will lay them on all those who hate you.16 Also you shall destroy all the peoples whom the Lord your God delivers over to you; your eye shall have no pity on them; nor shall you serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.17 If you should say in your heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?18 you shall not be afraid of them, but you shall remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs and the wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.20 Moreover the Lord your God will send the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed.21 You shall not be terrified of them; for the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is among you.22 And the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you little by little; you will be unable to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.23 But the Lord your God will deliver them over to you, and will inflict defeat upon them until they are destroyed.24 And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from under heaven; no one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it; for it is an abomination to the Lord your God.26 Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing.

DEUTERONOMY 7

Force the Other Nations //Out of the Land

(Exodus 34.11-16)

Moses said:

1  t People of Israel, the [Lord] your God will help you take the land of the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations have more people and are stronger than Israel, but when you attack them, 2 the [Lord] will force them out of the land. Then you must destroy them without mercy. Don't make any peace treaties with them, 3 and don't let your sons and daughters marry any of them.

4 If you do, those people will lead your descendants to worship other gods and to turn their backs on the [Lord]. That will make him very angry, and he will quickly destroy Israel.

5  t So when you conquer these nations, tear down the altars where they worship their gods. Break up their sacred stones, cut down the poles that they use in worshiping the goddess Asherah, and throw their idols in the fire.

The [Lord]'s Chosen People

Moses said:

8 but the [Lord] chose you because he loves you and because he had made a promise to your ancestors. Then with his mighty arm, he rescued you from the king of Egypt, who had made you his slaves.
9  t You know that the [Lord] your God is the only true God. So love him and obey his commands, and he will faithfully keep his agreement with you and your descendants for a thousand generations. 10 But if you turn against the [Lord], he will quickly destroy you.

11 So be sure to obey his laws and teachings I am giving you today.

The [Lord] Will Bless You //if You Obey

(Deuteronomy 28.1-14; Leviticus 26.3-13)

Moses said to Israel:

15 You will no longer suffer with the same horrible diseases that you sometimes had in Egypt. You will be healthy, but the [Lord] will make your enemies suffer from those diseases.

Destroy the Nations //and Their Gods

Moses said to Israel:

16 When the [Lord] helps you defeat your enemies, you must destroy them without pity! And don't get trapped into worshiping their gods.
17 You may be thinking, “How can we destroy these nations? They are more powerful than we are.” 18 But stop worrying! Just remember what the [Lord] your God did to Egypt and its king. 19 You saw how the [Lord] used his tremendous power to work great miracles and bring you out of Egypt. And he will again work miracles for you when you face these enemies you fear so much. 20 Some of them may try to survive by hiding from you, but the [Lord] will make them panic, and soon they will be dead.t

21 So don't be frightened when you meet them in battle. The [Lord] your God is great and fearsome, and he will fight at your side.
22 As you attack these nations, the [Lord] will force them out little by little. He won't let you get rid of them all at once—if he did, there wouldn't be enough people living in the land to keep down the number of wild animals.

23-24 But when you attack your enemies, the [Lord] will make them panic, and you will easily destroy them. You will defeat their kings one after another until they are gone, and no one will remember they ever lived.
25 After you conquer a nation, burn their idols. Don't get trapped into wanting the silver or gold on an idol. Even the metal on an idol is disgusting to the [Lord], 26 so destroy it. If you bring it home with you, both you and your house will be destroyed. Stay away from those disgusting idols!