A Chosen People(A)

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to (B)possess, and has cast out many (C)nations before you, (D)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, and when the Lord your God delivers (E)them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. (F)You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. (G)Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; (H)so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. But thus you shall deal with them: you shall (I)destroy their altars, and break down their sacred pillars, and cut down their [a]wooden images, and burn their carved images with fire.

“For you are a [b]holy people to the Lord your God; (J)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.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 7:5 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
  2. Deuteronomy 7:6 set-apart

Dealing with foreign worship

Now once the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to take possession of, and he drives out numerous nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: seven nations that are larger and stronger than you— once the Lord your God lays them before you, you must strike them down, placing them under the ban.[a] Don’t make any covenants with them, and don’t be merciful to them. Don’t intermarry with them. Don’t give your daughter to one of their sons to marry, and don’t take one of their daughters to marry your son, because they will turn your child away from following me so that they end up serving other gods. That will make the Lord’s anger burn against you, and he will quickly annihilate you.

Instead, this is what you must do with these nations: rip down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their sacred poles,[b] and burn their idols because you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God chose you to be his own treasured people beyond all others on the fertile land.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 7:2 See note at 2:34.
  2. Deuteronomy 7:5 Heb asherim, perhaps objects devoted to the goddess Asherah

Idols and the True God

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord:

(A)“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
For the customs of the peoples are [a]futile;
For (B)one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
They decorate it with silver and gold;
They (C)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
They are upright, like a palm tree,
And (D)they cannot speak;
They must be (E)carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For (F)they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 10:3 Lit. vanity

Living God or human handiwork

10 Listen to the word that the Lord has spoken to you, people of Israel!
The Lord proclaims:
Don’t follow the ways of the nations
    or be troubled by signs in the sky,
        even though the nations are troubled by them.
The rituals of the nations are hollow:
    a tree from the forest is chopped down
        and shaped by the craftsman’s tools.
It’s overlaid with silver and gold,
    and fastened securely with hammer and nails
        so it won’t fall over.
They are no different than a scarecrow
    in a cucumber patch:
    they can’t speak;
    they must be carried
        because they can’t walk.
Don’t be afraid of them,
    because they can’t do harm or good.

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The Fall of Babylon the Great

18 After(A) these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, (B)and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried [a]mightily with a loud voice, saying, (C)“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and (D)has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and (E)a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations (F)have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, (G)and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the [b]abundance of her luxury.”

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, (H)“Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:2 NU, M omit mightily
  2. Revelation 18:3 Lit. strengths

Babylon’s fall

18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was filled with light because of his glory. He called out with a loud voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a home for demons and a lair for every unclean spirit. She is a lair for every unclean bird, and a lair for every unclean and disgusting beast because all the nations have fallen[a] due to the wine of her lustful passion. The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth became rich from the power of her loose and extravagant ways.”

Then I heard another voice from heaven say, “Come out of her, my people, so that you don’t take part in her sins and don’t receive any of her plagues.

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Footnotes

  1. Revelation 18:3 Critical editions of the Gk New Testament read have drunk.