The Lord's special people
1 The Lord your God will now bring you into the land that will be your home. As you go in, he will chase out seven nations that now live there. Those nations are larger and more powerful than you are. They are the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. 2 The Lord your God will put those people under your power so that you win against them. When that happens, you must destroy them completely as a gift to God. Do not make any agreement with them to keep them safe. Do not be kind to them. 3 You must not marry any of these people. Do not let your daughters marry their sons. Do not take their daughters to marry your sons. 4 If that happens, your children may turn away from the Lord. They will start to worship other gods. Then the Lord will be very angry with you. He will immediately destroy you.
5 This is what you must do to the people of those nations: Break their altars and their stone pillars into pieces. Cut down their Asherah poles. Burn their idols with fire. 6 Remember that you are a special people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you for himself out of all the other people who live on the earth. He loves you as his special people.
7:5The altars, pillars and poles were all places where the other nations worshipped their false gods.
7 Why did the Lord choose you as the people who would give him pleasure? It was not because you were the largest nation on the earth. No, you were the smallest of all nations! 8 Instead, it was because of the Lord's love for you. Also, he had made a serious promise to your ancestors and he was faithful to that promise. So he used his great power to bring you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. He rescued you from the power of Pharaoh, Egypt's king.
9 Remember that the Lord your God is the only true God. So love him and obey his commands. Then you can trust him to be faithful to his covenant. He made that covenant with you, his people, and with your descendants for ever. 10 But if his people turn against him, he will punish them as they deserve. He will quickly destroy them.
11 So be careful to obey all the commands, rules and laws that I am teaching you today.
