Here then, is the land thou art to invade and conquer. To make room for thee in this land, the Lord thy God means to dispossess a multitude of nations at thy onslaught, Hethite, Gergesite, Amorrhite, Chanaanite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite; seven nations thou art no match for, in number or in strength,

but the Lord thy God will give thee victory over them. Thy part is, to exterminate them, never parleying with them, never pitying them.

There must be no bonds of marriage between you; as thou wouldst deny thy daughter to any son of theirs, so thou must deny thy son to any daughter of theirs,

or she will tempt him away from his allegiance into the service of alien gods, rousing the Lord’s anger, to thy speedy destruction.

This, rather, you must do; overthrow their altars, break their idols, cut down their sacred groves, set fire to their carved figures,

to shew that yours is a people set apart for its own God, chosen by its own God, out of all the nations on earth, as his own people.

If the Lord has held you closely to him and shewed you special favour, it was not that you overshadowed other peoples in greatness; of all nations you are the smallest.

No, it was because the Lord loved you, because he was true to the oath which he had sworn to your fathers, that he delivered you by force, reclaimed you from the slave’s life you were living in the power of Pharao, king of Egypt.

And thou wilt find it ever the same; the Lord thy God is God almighty, is God ever faithful; if men will love him and keep his commandments, he is true to his word, and shews mercy to them while a thousand generations pass;

if they make him their enemy, his speedy retribution overwhelms them, brings them, without more ado, the reward they have deserved.

Remember, then, all the laws and observances and decrees I proclaim to thee this day, and live by them.

Listen to those decrees, be true to them, and live by them, and the Lord thy God will be true to his covenant with thee, to the merciful promise which he made to thy fathers.

He will prove his love by granting thee increase, blessing womb and soil alike with fertility, corn and wine and oil, herd and flock, in the land which that promise has made thine.

Thou shalt be blessed as no other people is blessed; man and woman, sire and dam shall breed,

and the Lord will keep every kind of sickness far from thee; the fierce afflictions of Egypt, thou knowest them well, he will send not on thee but on thy enemies.

All the nations the Lord means thee to conquer shall fall an easy prey to thee; and for these thou shalt have no glance of pity; beware of worshipping their gods, to thy sure destruction.

But it may be the thought will come into thy mind, These nations outnumber me; shall I have the strength to dispossess them?

Away with these fears; remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to the rest of the Egyptians,

the great plagues which thy eyes witnessed, the portents and the marvels, the constraining force the Lord thy God used, the display he made of his power, to rescue thee. It is thus he will deal with all these nations thou dreadest;

nay, the Lord thy God will send hornets among them, to destroy the very fugitives that are in hiding from thee.

No, do not be afraid of them; the Lord thy God fights in thy company.

Little by little, now here, now there, he will dispossess these nations; thou couldst not destroy them all at once without letting the wild beasts breed, to thy hurt.

But deliver them over he will at thy coming, beating them down till he makes an end of them,

leaving all their kings at thy mercy, till at last the very names of them are forgotten on earth; none shall be able to resist thy victorious onset.

All their images thou shalt commit to the flames, with no eye for the gold and silver they are made of; keep nothing for thyself, or it will lead thee into sin; the curse of the Lord thy God rests upon it.

Never must thou bring any relic of an idol into thy house; it is a forfeited thing, and thy life too shall be forfeit. Shun it with loathing, turn away from the corruption of its touch; it is a forfeited thing.