Exodus 23:20-33

Modern English Version

The Angel Prepares the Way

²⁰ Indeed, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Be on guard before him and obey his voice. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, for My name is in him. ²² But if you diligently obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ²³ For My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I will completely destroy them. ²⁴ You must not bow down to their gods, or serve them, or do according to their practices, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break down their images in pieces. ²⁵ You shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless your bread and your water, and I will remove sickness from your midst. ²⁶ No one shall be miscarrying or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷ I will send My fear before you, and I will throw into panic all the people to whom you shall come. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. ²⁹ I will not drive them out before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field multiply against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you become fruitful and inherit the land.

³¹ I will set your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River;^[a] for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you. ³² You must not make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They shall not live in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.