Driving Out the Nations

7 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess^(A) and drives out before you many nations^(B)—the Hittites,^(C) Girgashites,^(D) Amorites,^(E) Canaanites, Perizzites,^(F) Hivites^(G) and Jebusites,^(H) seven nations larger and stronger than you— ² and when the Lord your God has delivered^(I) them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy^(J) them totally.^[a](K) Make no treaty^(L) with them, and show them no mercy.^{(M) 3} Do not intermarry with them.^(N) Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods,^(O) and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy^(P) you. ⁵ This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles^[b](Q) and burn their idols in the fire.^{(R) 6} For you are a people holy^(S) to the Lord your God.^(T) The Lord your God has chosen^(U) you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.^(V)

⁷ The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous^(W) than other peoples, for you were the fewest^(X) of all peoples.^{(Y) 8} But it was because the Lord loved^(Z) you and kept the oath he swore^(AA) to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand^(AB) and redeemed^(AC) you from the land of slavery,^(AD) from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁴ After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself,^(A) “The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness^(B) of these nations^(C) that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity^(D) that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness^(E) of these nations,^(F) the Lord your God will drive them out^(G) before you, to accomplish what he swore^(H) to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.^{(I) 6} Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(J)

¹⁶ However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.^{(A) 17} Completely destroy^[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,^(B) and you will sin^(C) against the Lord your God.

⁸ and followed the practices of the nations^(A) the Lord had driven out before them, as well as the practices that the kings of Israel had introduced.

¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger.