Deuteronomy7
New Living Translation
1“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you.
2When the Lord your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show them no mercy.
3You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters,
4for they will lead your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will quickly destroy you.
5This is what you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols.
6For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.
7“The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!
8Rather, it was simply that the Lord loves you, and he was keeping the oath he had sworn to your ancestors. That is why the Lord rescued you with such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.
10But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him.
11Therefore, you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am giving you today.
12“If you listen to these regulations and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his covenant of unfailing love with you, as he promised with an oath to your ancestors.
13He will love you and bless you, and he will give you many children. He will give fertility to your land and your animals. When you arrive in the land he swore to give your ancestors, you will have large harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil, and great herds of cattle, sheep, and goats.
14You will be blessed above all the nations of the earth. None of your men or women will be childless, and all your livestock will bear young.
15And the Lord will protect you from all sickness. He will not let you suffer from the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all your enemies!
16“You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Show them no mercy, and do not worship their gods, or they will trap you.
17Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’
18But don’t be afraid of them! Just remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the land of Egypt.
19Remember the great terrors the Lord your God sent against them. You saw it all with your own eyes! And remember the miraculous signs and wonders, and the strong hand and powerful arm with which he brought you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use this same power against all the people you fear.
20And then the Lord your God will send terror to drive out the few survivors still hiding from you!
21“No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God.
22The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you.
23But the Lord your God will hand them over to you. He will throw them into complete confusion until they are destroyed.
24He will put their kings in your power, and you will erase their names from the face of the earth. No one will be able to stand against you, and you will destroy them all.
25“You must burn their idols in fire, and you must not covet the silver or gold that covers them. You must not take it or it will become a trap to you, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.
26Do not bring any detestable objects into your home, for then you will be destroyed, just like them. You must utterly detest such things, for they are set apart for destruction.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Deuteronomy 7.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Intercourse with the Canaanites forbidden. (1–11). Promises if they were obedient. (12–26).
vv1-11
Here is a strict caution against all friendship and fellowship with idols and idolaters. Those who are in communion with God, must have no communication with the unfruitful works of darkness. Limiting the orders to destroy, to the nations here mentioned, plainly shows that after ages were not to draw this into a precedent. A proper understanding of the evil of sin, and of the mystery of a crucified Saviour, will enable us to perceive the justice of God in all his punishments, temporal and eternal. We must deal decidedly with our lusts that war against our souls; let us not show them any mercy, but mortify, and crucify, and utterly destroy them. Thousands in the world that now is, have been undone by ungodly marriages; for there is more likelihood that the good will be perverted, than that the bad will be converted. Those who, in choosing yoke-fellows, keep not within the bounds of a profession of religion, cannot promise themselves helps meet for them.
vv12-26
We are in danger of having fellowship with the works of darkness if we take pleasure in fellowship with those who do such works. Whatever brings us into a snare, brings us under a curse. Let us be constant to our duty, and we cannot question the constancy of God's mercy. Diseases are God's servants; they go where he sends them, and do what he bids them. It is therefore good for the health of our bodies, thoroughly to mortify the sin of our souls; which is our rule of duty. Yet sin is never totally destroyed in this world; and it actually prevails in us much more than it would do, if we were watchful and diligent. In all this the Lord acts according to the counsel of his own will; but that counsel being hid from us, forms no excuse for our sloth and negligence, of which it is in no degree the cause. We must not think, that because the deliverance of the church, and the destruction of the enemies of the soul, are not done immediately, therefore they will never be done. God will do his own work in his own method and time; and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually; but at length there will be a complete victory. Pride, security, and other sins that are common effects of prosperity, are enemies more dangerous than beasts of the field, and more apt to increase upon us.
Key Words
אֱלֹהִים: gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
יָרַשׁ: to occupy (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place); by implication, to seize, to rob, to inherit; also to expel, to impoverish, to ruin
נָשַׁל: to pluck off, i.e. divest, eject or drop
רַב: abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality)
גּוֹי: a foreign nation; hence, a Gentile; also (figuratively) a troop of animals, or a flight of locusts
פָּנִים: the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.)
חִתִּי: a Chittite, or descendant of Cheth
גִּרְגָּשִׁי: a Girgashite, one of the native tribes of Canaan
Cross References
Deuteronomy 7Poole and Calvin emphasize God's sovereign choice and delight in Israel's fathers, not based on numbers.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
The tragic historical realization of foreign marriages turning hearts away to other gods.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Calvin cites this to show the calling of the church to holiness and to show forth God's praises.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Matches the exact logic of driving out the Canaanites 'by little and little' to prevent wild beasts.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The holy seed mixing with the peoples of the lands, citing this forbidden practice directly.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The foundational covenant declaration of Israel as God's peculiar treasure (segullah) among all nations.
Supported by John Calvin
It pleased the Lord to make Israel His people purely for His own name's sake.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The original promise of the land to Abraham, listing the specific Canaanite nations.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Intra-chapter reinforcement emphasizing the burning of images and not desiring their silver or gold.
Parallel promise of blessing on bread, water, and the removal of sickness.
God promises to put none of the diseases of Egypt upon obedient Israel.
Direct historical fulfillment of God sending the hornet to drive out the kings of the Amorites.
The historical danger realized when Achan took the accursed thing, bringing trouble on Israel.
Cited by JFB to illustrate that evil communications corrupt good manners in Canaan.
Supported by JFB
New Testament parallel of Christ redeeming a 'peculiar people' zealous of good works.
Corresponds to the blessings of obedience on the fruit of the body and ground.