Deuteronomy 7
Lexham English Bible
7 “When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter into it[a] to take possession of it, and he drives[b] out many nations before you,[c] the Hittites[d] and the Girgashites[e] and the Amorites[f] and the Canaanites[g] and the Hivites[h] and the Jebusites,[i] seven nations mightier and more numerous than you, 2 and Yahweh your God will give them over to you[j] and you defeat them, you must utterly destroy them;[k] you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show mercy to them. 3 And you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to their son; and you shall not take his daughter for your son.[l] 4 For their[m] sons and daughters will cause your son[n] to turn away from following me,[o] and so they will serve other gods, and the anger of Yahweh would be kindled[p] against you, and he would quickly destroy you. 5 But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire. 6 For you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be for him a people, a treasured possession from among all the peoples that are on the face[q] of the earth.
7 “Yahweh loved you and chose you not because of your great number[r] exceeding all other peoples, for you are fewer than all of the peoples, 8 but[s] because of[t] the love of Yahweh for you and because of his keeping of the sworn oath that he swore to your ancestors,[u] Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 9 So know that Yahweh your God, he is God, the trustworthy God, maintaining his[v] covenant and his[w] loyal love with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments to a thousand generations,[x] 10 but repaying those[y] who hate him in their own person[z] to destroy them;[aa] he is not slow with those who hate him in their own person;[ab] he repays them.[ac] 11 And so you shall keep the commandment and the rules and the regulations that I am commanding you today[ad] to observe them.
12 “And then[ae] because you listen to these regulations and you diligently keep and you do them, then Yahweh your God will maintain his[af] covenant and his[ag] loyal love that he swore to your ancestors.[ah] 13 And he will love you, and he will bless you, and he will multiply you, and he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your olive oil, and newborn calves of your cattle, and the newborn lambs[ai] of your flocks in the land that he swore to your ancestors[aj] to give you. 14 You shall be blessed more than all of the peoples; among you there shall not be sterility and bareness, even[ak] among domestic animals.[al] 15 And Yahweh will turn away from you all the illness and all the harmful diseases of Egypt that you experienced; he will not lay them on you, but he will lay them on all of those who hate you. 16 And you shall devour all of the peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you; you shall not pity them,[am] and you shall not serve their gods, which will be a snare for you.
17 “If you think in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I, so how can I dispossess them?’ 18 then remember you must not be afraid of them; you must well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt: 19 the great trials that your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the workings of the strong hand and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out; so Yahweh your God will do to all of the peoples because of whom[an] you are in fear before them.[ao] 20 And, moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornets[ap] among them until both the survivors and the fugitives are destroyed[aq] before you.[ar] 21 You must not be in dread from the presence of them, because Yahweh your God, who is in your midst, is a great and awesome God. 22 And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations from before you[as] little by little; you will not be able to finish them off quickly, lest[at] the wild animals[au] multiply[av] against you.[aw] 23 But Yahweh your God will give them to you,[ax] and he will throw them into great panic until they are destroyed.[ay] 24 And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall blot out their names[az] from under the heaven; anyone will not be able to stand against you[ba] until you destroy them.[bb] 25 You shall burn the images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, and so you take it for yourself, so that you are not ensnared by it, for it is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God. 26 And you must not bring a detestable thing into your house, or you will become a thing devoted to destruction like it; you must utterly detest it, and you must utterly abhor it, for it is an object devoted to destruction.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Literally “there”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Or “he will drive out”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Literally “from your faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Hittite”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Girgashite”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Canaanite”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Hivite”
- Deuteronomy 7:1 Hebrew “Jebusite”
- Deuteronomy 7:2 Literally “to your faces” or “before you”
- Deuteronomy 7:2 Literally “set them aside for destruction”
- Deuteronomy 7:3 Grammatically singular pronominal suffixes here can also be rendered “their”
- Deuteronomy 7:4 Or “his”
- Deuteronomy 7:4 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 7:4 Literally from “behind/after me”
- Deuteronomy 7:4 Literally “and it would become hot the nose of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 7:6 Or “surface”
- Deuteronomy 7:7 Literally “from your multitude/abundance”
- Deuteronomy 7:8 Or “for”
- Deuteronomy 7:8 Literally “from”
- Deuteronomy 7:8 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 7:9 Hebrew “the”
- Deuteronomy 7:9 Hebrew “the”
- Deuteronomy 7:9 Hebrew “generation”
- Deuteronomy 7:10 Hebrew “the one”
- Deuteronomy 7:10 Literally “to their faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:10 Hebrew “him”; “them” in sense
- Deuteronomy 7:10 Literally “to their faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:10 Hebrew “him”
- Deuteronomy 7:11 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 7:12 Literally “And it will happen”
- Deuteronomy 7:12 Hebrew “the”
- Deuteronomy 7:12 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 7:12 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 7:13 Or “increase of”
- Deuteronomy 7:13 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 7:14 Hebrew “and”
- Deuteronomy 7:14 Hebrew “animal”
- Deuteronomy 7:16 Literally “your eye shall not take pity on them”
- Deuteronomy 7:19 Literally “from them”
- Deuteronomy 7:19 Literally “from their presence”
- Deuteronomy 7:20 Hebrew “hornet”
- Deuteronomy 7:20 Literally “the destroying of”
- Deuteronomy 7:20 Literally “from your faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Literally “from your faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Literally “so that not”
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Literally “animals of the field”
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Literally “will become numerous”
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Literally “on you”
- Deuteronomy 7:23 Literally “give them to your face”
- Deuteronomy 7:23 Literally “until their destroying”
- Deuteronomy 7:24 Hebrew “name”
- Deuteronomy 7:24 Literally “in your faces”
- Deuteronomy 7:24 Literally “until your destroying them”
Deuteronomy 7
Common English Bible
Dealing with foreign worship
7 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— 2 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. 3 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, 4 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.
5 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 6 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. 7 It was not because you were greater than all other people that the Lord loved you and chose you. In fact, you were the smallest of peoples! 8 No, it is because the Lord loved you and because he kept the solemn pledge he swore to your ancestors that the Lord brought you out with a strong hand and saved you from the house of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, Egypt’s king. 9 Know now then that the Lord your God is the only true God! He is the faithful God, who keeps the covenant and proves loyal to everyone who loves him and keeps his commands—even to the thousandth generation! 10 He is the God who personally repays anyone who hates him, ultimately destroying that kind of person. The Lord does not waste time with anyone who hates him; he repays them personally. 11 So make sure you carefully keep the commandment, the regulations, and the case laws that I am commanding you right now.
12 If you listen to these case laws and follow them carefully, the Lord your God will keep the covenant and display the loyalty that he promised your ancestors. 13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your wombs and the fruit of your fertile land—all your grain, your wine, your oil, and the offspring of your cattle and flocks—upon the very fertile land that he swore to your ancestors to give to you. 14 You will be more blessed than any other group of people. No one will be sterile or infertile—not among you or your animals. 15 The Lord will remove all sickness from you. As for all those dreadful Egyptian diseases you experienced, the Lord won’t put them on you but will inflict them on all who hate you. 16 You will destroy all the peoples that the Lord your God is handing over to you. Show them no pity. And don’t serve their gods because that would be a trap for you.
Against power and lack of trust
17 If you happen to think to yourself, These nations are greater than we are; how can we possibly possess their land? 18 don’t be afraid of them! Remember, instead, what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: 19 the great trials that you saw with your own eyes, the signs and wonders, and the strong hand and outstretched arm the Lord your God used to rescue you. That’s what the Lord your God will do to any people you fear. 20 The Lord your God will send terror[c] on them until even the survivors and those hiding from you are destroyed. 21 Don’t dread these nations because the Lord your God, the great and awesome God, is with you and among you. (22 The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you bit by bit. You won’t be able to finish them off quickly; otherwise, the wild animals would become too much for you to handle.) 23 The Lord your God will lay these nations before you, throwing them into a huge panic until they are destroyed. 24 He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe their names out from under the skies. No one will be able to stand before you; you will crush them.
25 Burn the images of their gods. Don’t desire the silver or the gold that is on them and take it for yourself, or you will be trapped by it. That is detestable to the Lord your God. 26 Don’t bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be placed under the ban too, just like it is! You must utterly detest these kinds of things, despising them completely, because they are under the ban.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 7:2 See note at 2:34.
- Deuteronomy 7:5 Heb asherim, perhaps objects devoted to the goddess Asherah
- Deuteronomy 7:20 Heb uncertain; perhaps wasp, plague, or pestilence
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