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 him. Do not defy 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, Hethites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.(D) 24 Do not bow in worship to their gods, and do not serve them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them[a] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.(E) 25 Serve the Lord your God, and he[b] 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[c] and will throw into confusion(H) all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat.[d] 28 I will send hornets[e](I) in front of you, and they will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hethites 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 serve their gods, it will be a snare for you.”(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 23:24 Probably the idols
  2. 23:25 LXX, Vg read I
  3. 23:27 Lit will send terror of me ahead of you
  4. 23:27 Or I will give your enemies to you by the neck
  5. 23:28 Or send panic
  6. 23:30 Lit fruitful
  7. 23:31 Lit the Sea of the Philistines
  8. 23:31 Lit the River

The Conquest of Canaan Promised

20 “I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.(A) 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.(B)

22 “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.(C)

23 “When my angel goes in front of you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,(D) 24 you shall not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces.(E) 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I[a] will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.(F) 26 No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.(G) 27 I will send my terror in front of you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send swarms of hornets[b] in front of you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.(H) 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.(I) 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea[c] to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out before you.(J) 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.(K) 33 They shall not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”(L)

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Footnotes

  1. 23.25 Gk Vg: Heb he
  2. 23.28 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  3. 23.31 Or Sea of Reeds