Promises and Warnings

20 “I am going to send an angel(A) before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defy[a] him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in him.(B) 22 But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy(C) to your enemies and a foe to your foes. 23 For My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.(D) 24 You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them[b] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.(E) 25 Worship the Lord your God, and He[c] will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.(F) 26 No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.(G)

27 “I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror[d] and throw into confusion(H) all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat. 28 I will send the hornet[e](I) in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you. 29 I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you. 30 I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous[f] and take possession of the land. 31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,[g] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.[h] For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.(J) 32 You must not make a covenant(K) with them or their gods. 33 They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you.”(L)

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 23:21 Or embitter
  2. Exodus 23:24 Probably the idols
  3. Exodus 23:25 LXX, Vg read I
  4. Exodus 23:27 Lit will send terror of Me ahead of you
  5. Exodus 23:28 Or send panic
  6. Exodus 23:30 Lit fruitful
  7. Exodus 23:31 Lit the Sea of the Philistines
  8. Exodus 23:31 Lit the River

20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.

21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.

23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.

24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.

26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.

27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.

28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.

29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.

30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.

32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.

33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

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