But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. 20:16
7:1-261 When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
God will cast out many nations, including seven greater than you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. [1]
2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:
When God delivers these nations to you, you must kill, without mercy, all the inhabitants of the land that you conquer. [2]
3 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
4 For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly.
None of you shall marry anyone from any of these nations. [3] Because they will turn your sons away from me, and cause them to serve other gods.Then I'll have to kill you suddenly.
5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Here is how you shall deal with them:Destroy their altars, images, groves, and graven images.
6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Because you are holy to God [4], and he has chosen you as a special people above everyone else on earth. [5]
9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
God will have mercy on those that love him and keep his commandments for a thousand generations. [6]
10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
But if you hate him, he'll hate you back (to your face) and then kill you.
11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers:
13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
So keep God's commandments.
If you do, he'll love and bless you.
You'll have lots of children, corn, wine, and sheep.
14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle.
15 And the LORD will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.
You'll be blessed more than anyone else.
And none of you will be barren, not even your cattle. [7]
None of you will ever get sick.
God will send all the diseases to the people who hate you.
16 And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them : neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.
17 If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?
Kill all the people God delivers to you. [8]
And don't serve any of their gods.
(That would be a snare to you.)
18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt;
19 The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid.
Don't be afraid of them.
Remember what God did to the Pharaoh and everyone in Egypt. [9]
God will do the same for you.
20 Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.
God will send hornets to kill your enemies when they try to hide from you. [10]
21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible.
So don't be afraid.
A mighty and terrible god is with you.
22 And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
God will destroy the nations little by little.
That way you won't have to worry about an increase in the number of beasts of the field. [11]
23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.
But God will deliver them to you, and destroy them with a mighty destruction until they are all destroyed.
24 And he shall deliver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them.
He will deliver kings into your hand and you'll destroy their name.
Nobody will be able to fight against you. You will destroy them all.
25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therin: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God.
You'll burn their graven images (with fire).
But don't desire or take their silver or gold. That is an abomination to God.
26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.
And don't bring an abomination into your house, or you'll become a cursed thing like it.
Utterly detest and abhor it. For it's a cursed thing.
God promises to cast out seven nations including the Amorites, Canaanites, and the Jebusites. But he was unable to keep his promise.
These seven nations were "greater and mightier" than the Israelites, who according to Ex 12:37 and Num 1:45-46 already had numbered several million. So the region, according to the bible, must have had a population of more than twenty million!
How should strangers be treated?
If you do show any mercy to such strangers, "give your daughters to any of them, or "take" any of their daughters, then you'll get God so angry that he'll "destroy thee suddenly."
God prefers the Israelites to everyone else. It's not that he's prejudiced, he just like them better.
God's favorite people will never be infertile (neither will their cows!) and will never get sick.
(God will send infertility and diseases on the other guys.)
Kill everyone that the Lord delivers to you. Show them no mercy. God will send hornets to help you with the genocide. After you have killed everyone, destroy their religious symbols. They are abominations to God. If you bring an image into your house you will become "a cursed thing like it."
Is God merciful?
What the Bible says about Genocide
In case you've forgotten, see Ex 12:29-30
God made the same promise in Ex 23:28, and he claims to have done it in Jos 24:12.
God and the Israelites won't do their genocides all at once, "lest the beasts of the field increase."
Some creationists say these beasts were dinosaurs (dragons in bible-speak).
