Exodus 23:20-33

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Promises and Warnings

²⁰“I am going to send an angel^(A) before you to protect you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared. ²¹Be attentive to him and listen to his voice. Do not defy^[a] him, because he will not forgive your acts of rebellion, for My name is in him.^(B) ²²But if you will carefully obey him and do everything I say, then I will be an enemy^(C) to your enemies and a foe to your foes. ²³For My angel will go before you and bring you to the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.^(D) ²⁴You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. Do not imitate their practices. Instead, demolish them^[b] and smash their sacred pillars to pieces.^(E) ²⁵Worship the Lord your God, and He^[c] will bless your bread and your water. I will remove illnesses from you.^(F) ²⁶No woman will miscarry or be childless in your land. I will give you the full number of your days.^(G)

²⁷“I will cause the people ahead of you to feel terror^[d] and throw into confusion^(H) all the nations you come to. I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you in retreat. ²⁸I will send the hornet^[e]^(I) in front of you, and it will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites away from you. ²⁹I will not drive them out ahead of you in a single year; otherwise, the land would become desolate, and wild animals would multiply against you. ³⁰I will drive them out little by little ahead of you until you have become numerous^[f] and take possession of the land. ³¹I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea,^[g] and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River.^[h] For I will place the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you will drive them out ahead of you.^(J) ³²You must not make a covenant^(K) with them or their gods. ³³They must not remain in your land, or else they will make you sin against Me. If you worship their gods, it will be a snare for you.”^(L)