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.