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Devote the Nations to Destruction

(A)When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, (B)seven nations more numerous and stronger than you, and when Yahweh your God gives them over before you and you strike them down, (C)then you shall devote them to destruction. (D)You shall cut no covenant with them (E)and show no favor to them. Furthermore, (F)you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your [a]daughters to [b]their sons, nor shall you take [c]their daughters for your [d]sons. For [e]they will turn your [f]sons away from [g]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and (G)He will quickly destroy you. But thus you shall do to them: (H)you shall tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut their [h]Asherim in pieces and burn their graven images with fire. For you are (I)a holy people to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be (J)a people for His [i]own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the [j]earth.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 7:3 Lit daughter
  2. Deuteronomy 7:3 Lit his son
  3. Deuteronomy 7:3 Lit his daughter
  4. Deuteronomy 7:3 Lit son
  5. Deuteronomy 7:4 Lit he
  6. Deuteronomy 7:4 Lit son
  7. Deuteronomy 7:4 Lit after
  8. Deuteronomy 7:5 Wooden symbols of a female deity
  9. Deuteronomy 7:6 Or special treasure
  10. Deuteronomy 7:6 Lit ground

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