Deuteronomy 7:16-26

Expanded Bible

¹⁶ You must ·destroy [devour] all the people the Lord your God hands over to you. Do not ·feel sorry for [pity] them, and do not ·worship [serve] their gods, or they will trap you.

¹⁷ You might say ·to yourselves [^Lin your hearts], “Because these nations are stronger than we are, ·we can’t [^Lhow can we…?] ·force them out [dispossess them].” ¹⁸ But don’t be afraid of them. Remember what the Lord your God did to all of Egypt and ·its king [^LPharaoh]. ¹⁹ ·You [^LYour eyes] saw for yourselves the troubles, signs, and miracles he did, how the Lord’s ·great power [^Lstrong hand] and ·strength [^Loutstretched arm] brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will do the same thing to all the nations you now fear. ²⁰ The Lord your God will also send ·terror [or pestilence; or hornets] among them so that even those who are alive and hiding from you will die. ²¹ Don’t ·be afraid of [dread] them, because the Lord your God is with you; he is a great God and ·people are afraid of him [awesome]. ²² When the Lord your God ·forces those nations out [clears away/out those nations] of the land, he will do it little by little ahead of you. You won’t be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will grow too many in number [^Cbecause of the reduced population]. ²³ But the Lord your God will hand those nations over to you, ·confusing [panicking] them until they are destroyed. ²⁴ The Lord will ·help you defeat their kings [^Lgive their kings into your hand], and ·the world will forget who they were [^Lyou will destroy their name from under the heavens]. No one will be able to ·stop you [stand against you]; you will destroy them all. ²⁵ Burn up their idols in the fire. Do not ·wish for [covet] the silver and gold they have, and don’t take it for yourselves, or you will be trapped by it. The Lord your God ·hates [despises] it. ²⁶ Do not bring one of those ·hateful [despised] things into your house, or you will be ·completely destroyed [devoted to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17] along with it. ·Hate [Detest] and reject those things; they must be ·completely destroyed [devoted to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17].