2. When 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.
3. You must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons marry their sons and daughters,
4. for 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.
5. This 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.
6. For 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!
8. Rather, 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.
9. Understand, 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.
10. But he does not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject him.
11. Therefore, 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.
13. He 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.
14. You 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.
15. And 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.
17. Perhaps you will think to yourselves, ‘How can we ever conquer these nations that are so much more powerful than we are?’