Deuteronomy 7 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

When Yahweh your God brings you into the land you're about to enter and take possession of, he will clear out many nations ahead of you — the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites — seven nations bigger and stronger than you.

And when Yahweh your God hands them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy them. Don't make any treaty with them, and don't show them mercy.

Don't intermarry with them. Don't give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

because they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods. Then Yahweh's anger will burn against you, and he will quickly wipe you out.

Instead, here's what you should do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images.

Because you are a people set apart for Yahweh your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, Yahweh your God chose you to be his treasured people, his own special possession.

It wasn't because you were more numerous than any other people that Yahweh set his heart on you and chose you — you were actually the smallest of all peoples.

Rather, it was because Yahweh loved you and because he was keeping the oath he swore to your ancestors. That's why Yahweh brought you out with a powerful hand and rescued you from the slave house, from the grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

So know this: Yahweh your God — he is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant and his loyal love to a thousand generations for those who love him and keep his commands.

But he pays back those who hate him right to their face, destroying them. He won't be slow with someone who hates him — he will pay them back to their face.

So be careful to follow the commands, the rules, and the fair judgments I'm giving you today — actually do them.

And if you listen to these fair judgments and carefully keep and do them, then Yahweh your God will keep his covenant and his loyal love with you, just as he swore to your ancestors.

He will love you, and he will make you flourish and multiply. He will make your children flourish, and the produce of your land — your grain, your new wine, and your fresh oil — and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks, in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.

You will be more enriched than any other people. There won't be a male or female among you who can't have children — or among your livestock either.

Yahweh will remove every sickness from you. He won't put any of the terrible diseases of Egypt on you — the ones you know all too well — but he will put them on everyone who hates you.

You must consume all the peoples that Yahweh your God is handing over to you. Don't look on them with pity. And don't serve their gods, because that will be a trap for you.

If you say to yourself, "These nations are bigger than me — how can I drive them out?"

don't be afraid of them. Just remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt:

the massive tests your own eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the powerful hand and the outstretched arm with which Yahweh your God brought you out. Yahweh your God will do the same to all the peoples you're afraid of.

On top of that, Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them until even the survivors who are hiding from you are wiped out.

Don't be terrified of them, because Yahweh your God is right there among you — a great and awe-inspiring God.

Yahweh your God will clear out these nations ahead of you little by little. You won't be able to finish them off quickly, or the wild animals would multiply around you.

But Yahweh your God will hand them over to you, throwing them into total confusion until they're destroyed.

He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their very names from under the sky. No one will be able to stand against you — you will destroy them all.

You must burn their carved god-images in the fire. Don't desire the silver or gold that's on them and take it for yourself, or it will become a trap for you — because it's something detestable to Yahweh your God.

Don't bring anything detestable into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction just like it. Treat it with complete disgust and total contempt, because it is set apart for destruction.