Drive Out the Nations 1 DBY When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall cast out many nations from before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou, BSB BSB: When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— 2 DBY and when Jehovah thy God shall give them up before thee and thou shalt smite them, then shalt thou utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them. BSB BSB: and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
3 DBY And thou shalt make no marriages with them: thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor take his daughter for thy son; BSB BSB: Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,
4 DBY for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly. BSB BSB: because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.
5 DBY But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire. BSB BSB: Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their idols in the fire.
6 DBY For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. BSB BSB: For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
7 DBY Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples; BSB BSB: The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
8 DBY but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a powerful hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. BSB BSB: But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 DBY And thou shalt know that Jehovah thy God, he is God, the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy to a thousand generations with them that love him and keep his commandments; BSB BSB: Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps His covenant of loving devotion for a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep His commandments.
10 DBY and repayeth them that hate him each to his face, to cause them to perish: he delayeth not with him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. BSB BSB: But those who hate Him He repays to their faces with destruction; He will not hesitate to repay to his face the one who hates Him.
11 DBY And thou shalt keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command thee this day, to do them. BSB BSB: So keep the commandments and statutes and ordinances that I am giving you to follow this day.
The Promises of God (Exodus 23:20–33)
12 DBY And it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Jehovah thy God will keep with thee the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto thy fathers; BSB BSB: If you listen to these ordinances and keep them carefully, then the LORD your God will keep His covenant and the loving devotion that He swore to your fathers.
13 DBY and he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy ground, thy corn and thy new wine, and thine oil, the offspring of thy kine, and the increase of thy sheep, in the land which he swore unto thy fathers to give thee. BSB BSB: He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.
14 DBY Thou shalt be blessed above all the peoples; there shall not be male or female barren with thee, or with thy cattle; BSB BSB: You will be blessed above all peoples; among you there will be no barren man or woman or livestock.
15 DBY and Jehovah will take away from thee all sickness, and none of the evil infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, will he put upon thee; but he will lay them upon all them that hate thee. BSB BSB: And the LORD will remove from you all sickness. He will not lay upon you any of the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but He will inflict them on all who hate you.
16 DBY And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God will give up unto thee; thine eye shall not spare them, and thou shalt not serve their gods; for that would be a snare unto thee. BSB BSB: You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
17 DBY If thou shouldest say in thy heart, These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them? BSB BSB: You may say in your heart, “These nations are greater than we are; how can we drive them out?”
18 DBY fear them not; remember well what Jehovah thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all the Egyptians; BSB BSB: But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt:
19 DBY the great trials which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the powerful hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby Jehovah thy God brought thee out: so will Jehovah thy God do unto all the peoples whom thou fearest. BSB BSB: the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.
20 DBY Moreover, Jehovah thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and they that hide themselves from thee, are destroyed. BSB BSB: Moreover, the LORD your God will send the hornet against them until even the survivors hiding from you have perished.
21 DBY Thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God is in thy midst, a God great and terrible. BSB BSB: Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God.
22 DBY And Jehovah thy God will cast out those nations from before thee by little and little; thou shalt not be able to make an end of them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. BSB BSB: The LORD your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be enabled to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals would multiply around you.
23 DBY But Jehovah thy God will give them up before thee, and will confound them with great consternation, until they are destroyed. BSB BSB: But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.
24 DBY And he will give their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt put out their name from under the heavens; no man shall stand before thee, until thou hast destroyed them. BSB BSB: He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.
25 DBY The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire; thou shalt not covet the silver and gold that is on them and take it unto thee, lest thou be ensnared therein; for it is an abomination to Jehovah thy God. BSB BSB: You must burn up the images of their gods; do not covet the silver and gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it; for it is detestable to the LORD your God.
26 DBY And thou shalt not bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing. BSB BSB: And you must not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction. You are to utterly detest and abhor it, because it is set apart for destruction.