²³ then the Lord ^(A)will drive out all these nations before you, and you will ^(B)dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

^38 (A)driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,

Not Because of Righteousness

9 “Hear, O Israel: you are ^(A)to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations ^(B)greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven,

^5 (A)Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm ^(B)the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

^22 (A)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[a] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ^23 (B)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

A Chosen People

7 “When the ^(A)Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^(B)the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^(C)more numerous and mightier than you, ^2 (D)and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ^(E)devote them to complete destruction.^{[a] (F)}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.

¹¹ “Observe what I command you this day. Behold, ^(A)I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

²⁷ I will send ^(A)my terror before you and will throw into ^(B)confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And ^(C)I will send hornets^[a] before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. ^29 (D)I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land.