Force the Other Nations Out of the Land
(Exodus 34.11-16)Moses said:
1 People of Israel, the Lord your God will help you take the land of the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. These seven nations have more people and are stronger than Israel, but when you attack them, 2 the Lord will force them out of the land. Then you must destroy them without mercy. Don't make any peace treaties with them, 3 and don't let your sons and daughters marry any of them. 4 If you do, those people will lead your descendants to worship other gods and to turn their backs on the Lord. That will make him very angry, and he will quickly destroy Israel.
5 So when you conquer these nations, tear down the altars where they worship their gods. Break up their sacred stones, cut down the poles that they use in worshiping the goddess Asherah, and throw their idols in the fire.
The Lord's Chosen People
Moses said:
6 Israel, you are the chosen people of the Lord your God. There are many nations on this earth, but he chose only Israel to be his very own. 7 You were the weakest of all nations, 8 but the Lord chose you because he loves you and because he had made a promise to your ancestors. Then with his mighty arm, he rescued you from the king of Egypt, who had made you his slaves.
9 You know that the Lord your God is the only true God. So love him and obey his commands, and he will faithfully keep his agreement with you and your descendants for a thousand generations. 10 But if you turn against the Lord, he will quickly destroy you. 11 So be sure to obey his laws and teachings I am giving you today.
The Lord Will Bless You if You Obey
(Deuteronomy 28.1-14Leviticus 26.3-13)Moses said to Israel:
12 If you completely obey these laws, the Lord your God will be loyal and keep the agreement he made with you, just as he promised our ancestors. 13 The Lord will love you and bless you by giving you many children and plenty of food, wine, and olive oil. Your herds of cattle will have many calves, and your flocks of sheep will have many lambs. 14 God will bless you more than any other nation—your families will grow and your livestock increase. 15 You will no longer suffer with the same horrible diseases that you sometimes had in Egypt. You will be healthy, but the Lord will make your enemies suffer from those diseases.
Destroy the Nations and Their Gods
Moses said to Israel:
16 When the Lord helps you defeat your enemies, you must destroy them without pity! And don't get trapped into worshiping their gods.
17 You may be thinking, “How can we destroy these nations? They are more powerful than we are.” 18 But stop worrying! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Egypt and its king. 19 You saw how the Lord used his tremendous power to work great miracles and bring you out of Egypt. And he will again work miracles for you when you face these enemies you fear so much. 20 Some of them may try to survive by hiding from you, but the Lord will make them panic, and soon they will be dead. 21 So don't be frightened when you meet them in battle. The Lord your God is great and fearsome, and he will fight at your side.
22 As you attack these nations, the Lord will force them out little by little. He won't let you get rid of them all at once—if he did, there wouldn't be enough people living in the land to keep down the number of wild animals. 23-24 But when you attack your enemies, the Lord will make them panic, and you will easily destroy them. You will defeat their kings one after another until they are gone, and no one will remember they ever lived.
25 After you conquer a nation, burn their idols. Don't get trapped into wanting the silver or gold on an idol. Even the metal on an idol is disgusting to the Lord, 26 so destroy it. If you bring it home with you, both you and your house will be destroyed. Stay away from those disgusting idols!
1 When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possesse it, and shall roote out many nations before thee: the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hiuites, and the Iebusites, seuen nations greater and mightier then thou, 2 And the Lord thy God shall giue them before thee, then thou shalt smite them: thou shalt vtterly destroy them: thou shalt make no couenant with them, nor haue compassion on them, 3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them, neither giue thy daughter vnto his sonne, nor take his daughter vnto thy sonne. 4 For they wil cause thy sonne to turne away from me, and to serue other gods: then will the wrath of the Lord waxe hote against you and destroy thee suddenly. 5 But thus ye shall deale with them, Ye shall ouerthrowe their altars, and breake downe their pillars, and ye shall cut downe their groues, and burne their grauen images with fire. 6 For thou art an holy people vnto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God hath chosen thee, to be a precious people vnto himselfe, aboue all people that are vpon the earth. 7 The Lord did not set his loue vpon you, nor chose you, because ye were more in number then any people: for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 But because the Lord loued you, and because hee would keepe the othe which hee had sworne vnto your fathers, the Lord hath brought you out by a mightie hand, and deliuered you out of the house of bondage from the hand of Pharaoh King of Egypt, 9 That thou mayest knowe, that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithfull God which keepeth couenant and mercie vnto them that loue him and keepe his commandements, euen to a thousand generations, 10 And rewardeth them to their face that hate him, to bring them to destruction: he wil not deferre to reward him that hateth him, to his face. 11 Keepe thou therefore the commandements, and the ordinances, and the lawes, which I commaund thee this day to doe them. 12 For if ye hearken vnto these lawes, and obserue and doe them, then the Lord thy God shall keepe with thee the couenant, and the mercie which he sware vnto thy fathers. 13 And he wil loue thee, and blesse thee, and multiplie thee: he will also blesse the fruite of thy wombe, and the fruite of thy land, thy corne and thy wine, and thine oyle and the increase of thy kine, and the flockes of thy sheepe in the land, which he sware vnto thy fathers to giue thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed aboue all people: there shall be neither male nor female barren among you, nor among your cattell. 15 Moreouer, the Lord will take away from thee all infirmities, and will put none of the euill diseases of Egypt (which thou knowest) vpon thee, but wil send them vpon all that hate thee. 16 Thou shalt therefore consume all people which the Lord thy God shall giue thee: thine eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serue their gods, for that shalbe thy destruction. 17 If thou say in thine heart, These nations are moe then I, how can I cast them out? 18 Thou shalt not feare them, but remember what the Lord thy God did vnto Pharaoh, and vnto all Egypt: 19 The great tentations which thine eyes sawe, and the signes and wonders, and the mighty hand and stretched out arme, whereby the Lord thy God brought thee out: so shall the Lord thy God do vnto all ye people, whose face thou fearest. 20 Moreouer, the Lord thy God will send hornets among them vntil they that are left, and hide themselues from thee, be destroyed. 21 Thou shalt not feare them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a God mightie and dreadful. 22 And the Lord thy God wil roote out these nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, least the beasts of the fielde increase vpon thee. 23 But the Lord thy God shall giue them before thee, and shall destroy them with a mightie destruction, vntill they be brought to naught. 24 And he shall deliuer their Kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from vnder heauen: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, vntill thou hast destroyed them. 25 The grauen images of their gods shall ye burne with fire, and couet not the siluer and golde, that is on them, nor take it vnto thee, least thou be snared therewith: for it is an abomination before the Lord thy God. 26 Bring not therefore abomination into thine house, lest, thou be accursed like it, but vtterly abhorre it, and count it most abominable: for it is accursed.