Deuteronomy, Chapter 7:

Verses from Deuteronomy, Chapter 7 of the book of Deuteronomy of the Bible.

Deuteronomy - Old Testament — Deuteronomy – Old Testament

The destruction of nations

1. “When the Lord your God has led you into the land that you are about to enter and conquer, and when he has driven out many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations more powerful and numerous than you,
2. and when the Lord your God has delivered them to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them completely. Do not make a pact with them, nor treat them with mercy.
3. Don't marry them. Do not allow your children to marry their sons and daughters, for they would turn them away from me to worship other gods. This would kindle the anger of the Lord against you and would soon exterminate you.
4. Instead, treat them like this: destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, cut down their idol posts and burn their carved idols.
5. For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God chose you from all the people on the face of the earth to be his people, his personal treasure.
6. “The Lord did not choose you and make you his people because you were more numerous than other people, for you were the fewest of all.
7. But it was because the Lord loved them and kept the oath he swore to their ancestors. Therefore, the Lord brought them out with a mighty hand and redeemed them from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
8. Remember that it was the Lord your God who led you through the desert these forty years, humbling you and testing you to know what was in your hearts, whether or not you would obey his commandments.
9. He humbled you by starving, and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors knew. He did this to show that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
10. During these forty years, the Lord your God has guided you and watched over you, so that you do not forget how he treated you. He tested you, so that you would know that obedience to his commandments is what keeps you alive.
11. Therefore, obey the commandments, decrees and laws that I command you to observe today.
12. “If you listen to these decrees, and keep and obey them carefully, the Lord your God will keep for you the covenant and love that he swore to your ancestors.
13. He will love you, bless you and multiply you; he will bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your lands, your grain, your new wine and your oil, the breeding of your cows and the sheep of your flocks, in the land that he swore to give to your ancestors.
14. You will be blessed among all people. There will be no barren man or woman among you, nor among your animals.
15. The Lord will remove all sickness from you. He will not send upon you any of the terrible plagues of Egypt, which you saw happening there, but he will impose them on all who hate you.
16. You will destroy all the peoples that the Lord your God gives you. Do not pity them and do not worship their gods, for that would be a trap for you.
17. “If you think like this: 'These nations are more powerful than us; how can we expel them?',
18. don't be afraid of them. Remember well what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt.
19. Remember the great signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm with which the Lord your God brought you out of there. The Lord your God will do the same to all the people you fear.
20. The Lord your God will send terror and confusion against them, until all who remain and hide from you have been eliminated.
21. Do not be terrified because of them, for the Lord your God is among you, a great and awesome God.
22. The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you, little by little. You will not be able to destroy them at once, as wild animals will multiply around them.
23. But the Lord your God will hand them over to you and completely disorganize them until they are destroyed.
24. He will deliver your kings into your hands, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will stand before you until you have completely destroyed them.
25. You must burn the carved images of their gods. Do not covet the silver and gold that is on them and do not take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared, for this is detestable to the Lord your God.
26. Do not bring anything detestable into your homes, so that you yourselves will be anathema like those things. Absolutely detest them and consider them unclean, for they are anathema.”