Deuteronomy 7
Good News Translation
The Lord's Own People(A)
7 (B)“The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are going to occupy, and he will drive many nations out of it. As you advance, he will drive out seven nations larger and more powerful than you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 2 When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy. 3 Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them, 4 because then they would lead your children away from the Lord to worship other gods. If that happens, the Lord will be angry with you and destroy you at once. 5 (C)So then, tear down their altars, break their sacred stone pillars in pieces, cut down their symbols of the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols. 6 (D)Do this because you belong to the Lord your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.
7 “The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples; you were the smallest nation on earth. 8 But the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors. That is why he saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt. 9 (E)Remember that the Lord your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, 10 but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him. 11 Now then, obey what you have been taught; obey all the laws that I have given you today.
The Blessings of Obedience(F)
12 (G)“If you listen to these commands and obey them faithfully, then the Lord your God will continue to keep his covenant with you and will show you his constant love, as he promised your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you, so that you will increase in number and have many children; he will bless your fields, so that you will have grain, wine, and olive oil; and he will bless you by giving you many cattle and sheep. He will give you all these blessings in the land that he promised your ancestors he would give to you. 14 No people in the world will be as richly blessed as you. None of you nor any of your livestock will be sterile. 15 The Lord will protect you from all sickness, and he will not bring on you any of the dreadful diseases that you experienced in Egypt, but he will bring them on all your enemies. 16 Destroy every nation that the Lord your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.
17 “Do not tell yourselves that these peoples outnumber you and that you cannot drive them out. 18 Do not be afraid of them; remember what the Lord your God did to the king of Egypt and to all his people. 19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw with your own eyes, the miracles and wonders, and the great power and strength by which the Lord your God set you free. In the same way that he destroyed the Egyptians, he will destroy all these people that you now fear. 20 He will even cause panic[a] among them and will destroy those who escape and go into hiding. 21 So do not be afraid of these people. The Lord your God is with you; he is a great God and one to be feared. 22 Little by little he will drive out these nations as you advance. You will not be able to destroy them all at once, for, if you did, the number of wild animals would increase and be a threat to you. 23 The Lord will put your enemies in your power and make them panic until they are destroyed. 24 He will put their kings in your power. You will kill them, and they will be forgotten. No one will be able to stop you; you will destroy everyone. 25 Burn their idols. Do not desire the silver or gold that is on them, and do not take it for yourselves. If you do, that will be fatal, because the Lord hates idolatry. 26 Do not bring any of these idols into your homes, or the same curse will be on you that is on them. You must hate and despise these idols, because they are under the Lord's curse.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 7:20 cause panic; or send hornets, or send plagues.
Deuteronomy 7
English Standard Version
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. 3 (G)You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. (H)Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you (I)quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: (J)you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their (K)pillars and chop down their (L)Asherim and (M)burn their carved images with fire.
6 “For (N)you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be (O)a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but (P)it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping (Q)the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, (R)the faithful God (S)who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and (T)repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. (U)He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 (V)You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
12 (W)“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you (X)the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will (Y)love you, bless you, and multiply you. (Z)He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. (AA)There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil (AB)diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And (AC)you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. (AD)Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be (AE)a snare to you.
17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 (AF)you shall not be afraid of them but you shall (AG)remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, (AH)the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, (AI)the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is (AJ)in your midst, (AK)a great and awesome God. 22 (AL)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,[b] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 (AM)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And (AN)he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall (AO)make their name perish from under heaven. (AP)No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods (AQ)you shall burn with fire. You (AR)shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be (AS)ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction[c] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, (AT)for it is devoted to destruction.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 7:2 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
- Deuteronomy 7:22 Or quickly
- Deuteronomy 7:26 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); twice in this verse
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
