Deuteronomy 7

1When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of, and he clears away many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you—

2and when Yahweh your God hands them over to you and you defeat them, you must devote them completely to destruction. Do not make a covenant with them or show them mercy.

3Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

4for they would turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. Then Yahweh’s anger would burn against you, and he would quickly 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, and burn their carved idols in the fire.

6For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

7It was not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that Yahweh set his heart on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples.

8It was because Yahweh loves you and because he kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9Know, then, that Yahweh your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments,

10but who repays those who hate him to their face by destroying them. He does not delay with anyone who hates him; he repays him to his face.

11So keep the commandment, the statutes, and the ordinances that I am commanding you today, and follow them.

12If you listen to these ordinances and keep and follow them, then Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your ancestors.

13He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground—your grain, your new wine, and your olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, in the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you.

14You will be blessed more than all peoples. There will be no barren male or female among you or among your livestock.

15Yahweh will take away from you all sickness. He will not put on you any of the terrible diseases of Egypt that you knew, but he will lay them on all who hate you.

16You are to devour all the peoples that Yahweh your God hands over to you. Do not look on them with pity, and do not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

17You may say to yourself, ‘These nations are more numerous than I am. How can I drive them out?’

18But do not be afraid of them. Remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

19the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and 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 you fear.

20Moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them until even those who are left and those who hide from you have perished.

21Do not be terrified of them, for Yahweh your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.

22Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to wipe them out quickly, or the wild animals will become too numerous for you.

23Yahweh your God will hand 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 from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them.

25Burn the carved images of their gods in the fire. Do not covet the silver or gold on them, and do not take it for yourself, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to Yahweh your God.

26Do not bring a detestable thing into your house, or you will be devoted to destruction like it. You must utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.