^4 (A)“Do not think in your heart, after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land’; but it is ^(B)because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out from before you.

¹⁷ then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’

Avoid Wicked Customs

⁹ “When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(A)you shall not learn to follow the ^[a]abominations of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter ^(B)pass^[b] through the fire, ^(C)or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ^11 (D)or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or ^(E)one who calls up the dead. ¹² For all who do these things are ^[c]an abomination to the Lord, and ^(F)because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out from before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[d]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For these nations which you will dispossess listened to soothsayers and diviners; but as for you, the Lord your God has not ^[e]appointed such for you.

^5 (A)It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may ^[a]fulfill the ^(B)word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁹ who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, ^(A)not according to our works, but ^(B)according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus ^(C)before time began,

⁷ For who ^[a]makes you differ from another? And ^(A)what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

^24 (A)‘Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; ^(B)for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. ²⁵ For ^(C)the land is defiled; therefore I ^(D)visit^[a] the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land ^(E)vomits out its inhabitants. ^26 (F)You shall therefore ^[b]keep My statutes and My judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations, either any of your own nation or any stranger who dwells among you ²⁷ (for all these abominations the men of the land have done, who were before you, and thus the land is defiled), ²⁸ lest ^(G)the land vomit you out also when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. ²⁹ For whoever commits any of these abominations, the persons who commit them shall be ^[c]cut off from among their people.

³⁰ ‘Therefore you shall keep My ^[d]ordinance, so ^(H)that you do not commit any of these abominable customs which were committed before you, and that you do not defile yourselves by them: ^(I)I am the Lord your God.’ ”

^31 (A)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every ^[a]abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for ^(B)they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

⁷ The Lord did not set His ^(A)love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were ^(B)the least of all peoples; ⁸ but ^(C)because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep ^(D)the oath which He swore to your fathers, ^(E)the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of ^[a]bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.