Back to Deuteronomy 7

Deuteronomy 7:2-4

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

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Deuteronomy 7:2-4 sits inside this longer paragraph.

When Yahweh 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; and when Yahweh 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. 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. For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So Yahweh’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. 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. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh 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; but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh 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. Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 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. You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. 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. You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. Yahweh 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. You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh 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. If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and awesome God. Yahweh 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. But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. 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. 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 Yahweh your God. 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.

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    and when Yahweh 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.

    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.

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

  • KJV King James Version

    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:

    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.

    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.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    and when the LORD thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;

    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.

    For he 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 He will destroy thee quickly.

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (3)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

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Commandments (3)

The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.

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Cross-references (45)

  • 1 Kings 11:2 (v3) of the nations concerning which Yahweh said to the children of Israel, “You shall not go among them, neither shall they come among you; for…
  • Joshua 23:12-13 (v3) “But if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages with…
  • Exodus 34:15-16 (v3) “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and…
  • 2 Corinthians 6:14-17 (v3) Don’t be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship do righteousness and iniquity have? Or what fellowship does light have with…
  • Judges 3:6-7 (v3) They took their daughters to be their wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons and served their gods. The children of Israel did…
Show all 45 cross-references
  • Nehemiah 13:23-27 (v3) In those days I also saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab; and their children spoke half in the speech of…
  • Deuteronomy 6:15 (v4) for Yahweh your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of Yahweh your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the…
  • Genesis 6:2-3 (v3) God’s sons saw that men’s daughters were beautiful, and they took any that they wanted for themselves as wives. Yahweh said, “My Spirit…
  • Exodus 23:32-33 (v2) You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you…
  • Judges 2:2 (v2) You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice.…
  • Ezra 9:1-2 (v3) Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, have not…
  • Deuteronomy 20:16-17 (v2) But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you…
  • Exodus 20:5 (v4) you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on…
  • Leviticus 27:28-29 (v2) “ ‘Notwithstanding, no devoted thing that a man devotes to Yahweh of all that he has, whether of man or animal, or of the field of his…
  • Deuteronomy 4:26 (v4) I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan to…
  • Deuteronomy 23:14 (v2) for Yahweh your God walks in the middle of your camp, to deliver you, and to give up your enemies before you. Therefore your camp shall be…
  • Deuteronomy 32:16-17 (v4) They moved him to jealousy with strange gods. They provoked him to anger with abominations. They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods…
  • Joshua 2:14 (v2) The men said to her, “Our life for yours, if you don’t talk about this business of ours; and it shall be, when Yahweh gives us the land,…
  • Joshua 10:30 (v2) Yahweh delivered it also, with its king, into the hand of Israel. He struck it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls who were in…
  • Joshua 11:11-12 (v2) They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned…
  • Judges 2:11 (v4) The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals.
  • Judges 2:20 (v4) Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel; and he said, “Because this nation transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and has…
  • Judges 3:7-8 (v4) The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and forgot Yahweh their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.…
  • Judges 10:6-7 (v4) The children of Israel again did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and served the Baals, the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of…
  • Genesis 14:20 (v2) Blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Abram gave him a tenth of all.
  • Exodus 34:12-16 (v2) Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you; but you shall…
  • Numbers 33:52 (v2) then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images,…
  • Deuteronomy 3:3 (v2) So Yahweh our God delivered into our hand Og also, the king of Bashan, and all his people. We struck him until no one was left to him…
  • Deuteronomy 7:23-24 (v2) But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will…
  • Deuteronomy 13:8 (v2) you shall not consent to him nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him;
  • Deuteronomy 20:10-11 (v2) When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you,…
  • Joshua 6:17-25 (v2) The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in…
  • Joshua 8:24 (v2) When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness in which they pursued them, and they had all…
  • Joshua 9:18-21 (v2) The children of Israel didn’t strike them, because the princes of the congregation had sworn to them by Yahweh, the God of Israel. All the…
  • Joshua 9:24 (v2) They answered Joshua, and said, “Because your servants were certainly told how Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all…
  • Joshua 10:24-25 (v2) When they brought those kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who went…
  • Joshua 10:28 (v2) Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, with its king. He utterly destroyed it and all the souls who…
  • Joshua 10:32 (v2) Yahweh delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel. He took it on the second day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, with all the…
  • Joshua 10:40 (v2) So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, the South, the lowland, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no one remaining, but he…
  • Joshua 10:42 (v2) Joshua took all these kings and their land at one time because Yahweh, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
  • Joshua 21:44 (v2) Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before them. Yahweh…
  • Judges 1:4 (v2) Judah went up, and Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. They struck ten thousand men in Bezek.
  • Judges 1:24 (v2) The watchers saw a man come out of the city, and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance into the city, and we will deal kindly with…
  • 2 Samuel 21:2 (v2) The king called the Gibeonites, and said to them (now the Gibeonites were not of the children of Israel, but of the remnant of the…
  • Exodus 22:20 (v2) “He who sacrifices to any god, except to Yahweh only, shall be utterly destroyed.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (14 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 Into thy power.

Into thy power.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Deu 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 No covenant with them, to spare them, or permit…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–4 And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v4 To serve other Gods - That is, there is…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–3 Verse 2. Thou shalt smite them, c.] These idolatrous…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Deu 7:2. Thou shalt smite and utterly destroy them…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2–4 League. Yet Josue, (ix. 3,) by mistake, entered into…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–3 2. Smite them, and utterly destroy them — Thou…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–4 2. deliver them up before] See on Deu_1:8.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v2 (2) And when the Lord thy God shall deliver…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Brought into…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 4 General Information:
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