Deuteronomy 7

1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you;

2 and when the LORD your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them.

3 You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son.

4 For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So the LORD’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

5 But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire.

6 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

7 The LORD didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples;

8 but because the LORD loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 Know therefore that the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments,

10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face.

11 You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them.

12 It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers.

13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you.

14 You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock.

15 The LORD will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.

16 You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you.

17 If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?”

18 you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:

19 the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

20 Moreover the LORD your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you.

21 You shall not be scared of them; for the LORD your God is among you, a great and awesome God.

22 The LORD your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you.

23 But the LORD your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed.

24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them.

25 You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.

26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

Around Deuteronomy 7

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

Deuteronomy 7 · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this chapter says

Moses looks ahead to a land full of nations, seven of them, greater and mightier than Israel. He tells the people what to do when the LORD delivers them up: utterly destroy them, make no covenant, show no mercy, and make no marriages with them. Break down their altars, dash their pillars, burn their engraved images. The reason given is that their sons would be turned to other gods.

Then the chapter pauses on a surprise. Israel is a holy people, chosen not because they were many, for they were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loves them and keeps his oath. He is the faithful God who keeps covenant to a thousand generations.

Moses promises blessing for obedience and warns against fear: remember what the LORD did to Pharaoh. The nations will be cast out little by little.

Background

Moses is preparing a nation for entering Canaan, and the language of total destruction is some of the hardest in the Bible. Many scholars note that such language was common in the ancient world and may be partly formal, and some point out that later books show the peoples were not wiped out. This text has been misused to justify violence against groups in later history, and Jewish and Christian readers have sharply rejected that use. Compare Deuteronomy 20 and Joshua 9 to 11.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 25 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes