¹ “When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you are about to enter ⌞into it⌟¹ to take possession of it, and he drives² out many nations ⌞before you⌟,³ the Hittites⁴ and the Girgashites⁵ and the Amorites⁶ and the Canaanites⁷ and the Hivites⁸ and the Jebusites,⁹ seven nations mightier and more numerous than you,

1. Literally “there”
2. Or “he will drive out”
3. Literally “from your faces”
4. Hebrew “Hittite”
5. Hebrew “Girgashite”
6. Hebrew “Amorite”
7. Hebrew “Canaanite”
8. Hebrew “Hivite”
9. Hebrew “Jebusite”

² and Yahweh your God will give them ⌞over to you⌟¹ and you defeat them, you must ⌞utterly destroy them⌟;² you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show mercy to them.

1. Literally “to your faces” or “before you”
2. Literally “set them aside for destruction”

³ And you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to their son; and you shall not take his daughter for your son.¹

1. Grammatically singular pronominal suffixes here can also be rendered “their”

⁴ For their¹ sons and daughters will cause your son² to turn away ⌞from following me⌟,³ and so they will serve other gods, and ⌞the anger of Yahweh would be kindled⌟⁴ against you, and he would quickly destroy you.

1. Or “his”
2. Or “sons”
3. Literally from “behind/after me”
4. Literally “and it would become hot the nose of Yahweh”

⁵ But this is what you must do to them: you shall break down their altars, and their stone pillars you shall smash, and their Asherah poles you shall hew down, and you shall burn their idols with fire.

⁶ For you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be for him a people, a treasured possession from among all the peoples that are on the face¹ of the earth.

1. Or “surface”

⁷ “Yahweh loved you and chose you not ⌞because of your great number⌟¹ exceeding all other peoples, for you are fewer than all of the peoples,

1. Literally “from your multitude/abundance”

⁸ but¹ ⌞because of⌟² the love of Yahweh for you and because of his keeping of the sworn oath that he swore to your ancestors,³ Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

1. Or “for”
2. Literally “from”
3. Or “fathers”

⁹ So know that Yahweh your God, he is God, the trustworthy God, maintaining his¹ covenant and his² loyal love with those who love him and with those who keep his commandments to a thousand generations,³

1. Hebrew “the”
2. Hebrew “the”
3. Hebrew “generation”

¹⁰ but repaying those¹ who hate him ⌞in their own person⌟² to destroy them;³ he is not slow with those who hate him ⌞in their own person⌟;⁴ he repays them.⁵

1. Hebrew “the one”
2. Literally “to their faces”
3. Hebrew “him”; “them” in sense
4. Literally “to their faces”
5. Hebrew “him”

¹¹ And so you shall keep the commandment and the rules and the regulations that I am commanding you ⌞today⌟¹ to observe them.

1. Literally “the day”

¹² “⌞And then⌟¹ because you listen to these regulations and you diligently keep and you do them, then Yahweh your God will maintain his² covenant and his³ loyal love that he swore to your ancestors.⁴

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Hebrew “the”
3. Or “fathers”
4. Or “fathers”

¹³ And he will love you, and he will bless you, and he will multiply you, and he will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your olive oil, and newborn calves of your cattle, and the newborn lambs¹ of your flocks in the land that he swore to your ancestors² to give you.

1. Or “increase of”
2. Or “fathers”

¹⁴ You shall be blessed more than all of the peoples; among you there shall not be sterility and bareness, even¹ among domestic animals.²

1. Hebrew “and”
2. Hebrew “animal”

¹⁵ And Yahweh will turn away from you all the illness and all the harmful diseases of Egypt that you experienced; he will not lay them on you, but he will lay them on all of those who hate you.

¹⁶ And you shall devour all of the peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you; ⌞you shall not pity them⌟,¹ and you shall not serve their gods, which will be a snare for you.

1. Literally “your eye shall not take pity on them”

¹⁷ “If you think in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I, so how can I dispossess them?’

¹⁸ then remember you must not be afraid of them; you must well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt:

¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the workings of the strong hand and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out; so Yahweh your God will do to all of the peoples ⌞because of whom⌟¹ you are in fear ⌞before them⌟.²

1. Literally “from them”
2. Literally “from their presence”

²⁰ And, moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornets¹ among them until both the survivors and the fugitives ⌞are destroyed⌟² ⌞before you⌟.³

1. Hebrew “hornet”
2. Literally “the destroying of”
3. Literally “from your faces”

²¹ You must not be in dread from the presence of them, because Yahweh your God, who is in your midst, is a great and awesome God.

²² And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations ⌞from before you⌟¹ little by little; you will not be able to finish them off quickly, ⌞lest⌟² the ⌞wild animals⌟³ ⌞multiply⌟⁴ ⌞against you⌟.⁵

1. Literally “from your faces”
2. Literally “so that not”
3. Literally “animals of the field”
4. Literally “will become numerous”
5. Literally “on you”

²³ But Yahweh your God will ⌞give them to you⌟,¹ and he will throw them into great panic ⌞until they are destroyed⌟.²

1. Literally “give them to your face”
2. Literally “until their destroying”

²⁴ And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall blot out their names¹ from under the heaven; anyone will not be able to stand ⌞against you⌟² ⌞until you destroy them⌟.³

1. Hebrew “name”
2. Literally “in your faces”
3. Literally “until your destroying them”

²⁵ You shall burn the images of their gods with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is on them, and so you take it for yourself, so that you are not ensnared by it, for it is a detestable thing to Yahweh your God.

²⁶ And you must not bring a detestable thing into your house, or you will become a thing devoted to destruction like it; you must utterly detest it, and you must utterly abhor it, for it is an object devoted to destruction.