The Scriptures (ISR 1998) 1“When יהוה your Elohim brings you into the land which you go to possess, He shall also clear away many nations before you: the Ḥittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Kena‛anites and the Perizzites and the Ḥiwwites and the Yeḇusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. 2“And when יהוה your Elohim gives them over to you, you shall smite them and put them under the ban, completely. Make no covenant with them, and show them no favour. 3“And do not intermarry with them – you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter for your son, 4for he turns your sons away from following Me, to serve other mighty ones. Then the displeasure of יהוה shall burn against you and promptly destroy you. 5“But this is what you do to them: Break down their altars, and smash their pillars, and cut down their Ashĕrim, and burn their carved images with fire. 6“For you are a set-apart people to יהוה your Elohim. יהוה your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above all the peoples on the face of the earth. 7“יהוה did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more numerous than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples, 8but because of יהוה loving you, and because of Him guarding the oath which He swore to your fathers, יהוה has brought you out with a strong hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh sovereign of Mitsrayim. 9“And you shall know that יהוה your Elohim, He is Elohim, the trustworthy Ěl guarding covenant and kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him, and those who guard His commands, 10but repaying those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He does not delay to do so with him who hates Him, He repays him to his face. 11“And you shall guard the command, and the laws, and the right-rulings which I command you today, to do them. 12“And it shall be, because you hear these right-rulings, and shall guard and do them, that יהוה your Elohim shall guard with you the covenant and the kindness which He swore to your fathers, 13and shall love you and bless you and increase you, and shall bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your land, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flock, in the land of which He swore to your fathers to give you. 14“Blessed are you above all peoples – there is not going to be a barren man or a barren woman among you or among your livestock. 15“And יהוה shall turn away from you all sickness and put on you none of the evil diseases of Mitsrayim which you have known, but He shall put them on all those who hate you. 16“And you shall consume all the peoples whom יהוה your Elohim is delivering over to you – your eye shall not pardon them. And do not serve their mighty ones, for that is a snare to you. 17“When you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I, I am unable to drive them out,’ 18do not be afraid of them. Remember well what יהוה your Elohim did to Pharaoh and to all Mitsrayim, 19the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs and the wonders, the strong hand and the outstretched arm, by which יהוה your Elohim brought you out. יהוה your Elohim does so to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20“And יהוה your Elohim also sends the hornet among them until those who are left, who hide themselves from you, are destroyed. 21“Do not be afraid of them, for יהוה your Elohim, the great and awesome Ěl, is in your midst. 22“And יהוה your Elohim shall drive out those nations before you, little by little. You are not allowed to destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. 23“But יהוה your Elohim shall deliver them over to you and destroy them with a great destruction until they are consumed. 24“And He shall give their sovereigns into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under the heavens. No one is going to be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25“The carved images of their mighty ones you are to burn with fire. Do not covet the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be snared by it, for it is an abomination to יהוה your Elohim. 26“And do not bring an abomination into your house, lest you be accursed like it. Utterly loathe it and utterly hate it, for it is accursed. |