Go to Canaan and kill them all
1This land is yours for the taking. The LORD your God is giving it to you. He’ll drive out the seven nations living there now. Each nation is larger and stronger than you are: Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 2When the LORD your God gives them to you, you’ll need to finish them off. After you defeat them in battle, wipe them out by killing them all. Don’t make any peace treaty with them. Don’t show them mercy.3Don’t marry any of their survivors. And don’t let your children marry them. 4Those people worship other gods. They’ll convince your people to do the same, to leave the LORD and worship other gods. When that happens, when Israel rejects God, he’ll get angry. Then he’ll quickly put an end to Israel. He’ll destroy you. 5Don’t let that happen. Instead, put an end to those nations. Destroy them. Tear down their sacrificial altars. Smash the stones that mark their sacred sites. [1] Pull down those fertility-goddess Asherah [2] posts and burn them to ashes.
God chose you over everyone else
6You are God’s people. He picked you out of all the people in the world. You are holy to the LORD your God because you’re devoted to him. 7The LORD your God didn’t pick you because of your huge population. You were the smallest. [3] 8You were less than others, but the LORD loved you nonetheless. He kept his promise to your ancestors. He took his power to Egypt when you worked there as the king’s slave labor. And he used that power to free you.9There are some things you need to know about the LORD your God. First, he is God. You can count on him. He’ll keep his part of any agreement he makes with you. And he’ll do it for a thousand generations to come if those future descendants love him and obey his laws. 10But if you hatefully reject God, he’ll end you in a heartbeat. He doesn’t hesitate when it comes to those who hate him. 11So be careful to follow the law. Obey his rules and honor his decisions, which I’m telling you about today.
God is going to bless you plenty and then some
12Listen to what the LORD your God tells you to do, and then do it. If you can manage that, he’ll keep his part of the agreement he made with you—and the promise he made to your ancestors. 13He’ll love you. He’ll bless you with lots of children and all the food you’ll need to feed them. You’ll have plenty of grain, wine, olive oil, and newborn livestock—calves and lambs among them. You’ll have all this, along with the land God promised your ancestors.14God is going to bless you like no other nation. For one, in all your combined herds of cattle, you won’t find a sterile bull or an infertile cow. 15You’ll also say goodbye to the diseases you saw people suffering with in Egypt. This land will be a healthy place to live. God won’t inflict you with the sicknesses he’ll pound into your enemies.
Don’t pity enemies; kill them
16The LORD your God is going to deliver your enemies into your custody. When you get them, kill them. Don’t pity them. And don’t let them trick you into worshiping their gods. [4]17Listen, you might doubt yourself. You might say, “How can we possibly beat these people? They’re a bigger nation, and stronger.” 18Don’t be afraid of them. Instead, remember what you saw the LORD your God do to Pharaoh in Egypt. 19Remember the plagues you saw him use in Egypt, when he freed you from slavery and brought you out of there. The LORD your God hasn’t changed. What he did in Egypt, he’ll do to any enemy who scares you. 20The LORD your God will send a plague of hornets if that’s what it takes to send your enemies running. Any of them left in hiding will die soon. 21So, for heaven’s sake, don’t be afraid of these people. The LORD your God is right there with you. He is so incredibly beyond amazing that it’s astounding.
