Devarim (Deuteronomy): Vaetchanan > Ch 7

Moses tells Israelites: When G-d brings them into the Promised Land, they should kill the inhabitants, not intermarry, and not follow their idol worshipping ways.

  • When the Lord, your G-d, brings you into the land to to which you are coming to possess it, He will cast away many nations from before you: the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivvites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and powerful that you. And the Lord, your G-d, will deliver them to you, and you shall smite them. You shall utterly destroy them; neither shall you make a covenant with them, nor be gracious to them.
  • You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son. For he will turn away your son from following Me, and they will worship the gods of others, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you. You shall demolish their altars and smash their monuments, and cut down their asherim trees, and burn their graven images with fire.


Moses tells Israelites why G-d has chosen them from all the people on earth

  • For you are a holy people to the Lord, your G-d: the Lord your G-d has chosen you to be His treasured people, out of all the peoples upon the face of the earth. Not because you are more numerous than any people did the Lord delight in you and choose you, for you are the least of all the peoples. But because of the Lord's love for you, and because He keeps the oath He swore to your forefathers, the Lord took you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.


Moses tells Israelites to observe G-d’s commendments: “You shall be blessed above all peoples“

  • Know, therefore, that the Lord, your G-d He is G-d, the faithful God, Who keeps the covenant and loving kindness with those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations. And He repays those who hate Him, to their face, to cause them to perish; He will not delay the one who hates Him, but he will repay him to his face.
  • You shall therefore, observe the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day to do. And it will be, because you will heed these ordinances and keep them and perform, that the Lord, your G-d, will keep for you the covenant and the kindness that He swore to your forefathers. And He will love you and bless you and multiply you; He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your grain, your wine, and your oil, the offspring of your cattle and the choice of your flocks, in the land which He swore to your forefathers to give you. You shall be blessed above all peoples: There will be no sterile male or barren female among you or among your livestock. And the Lord will remove from you all illness, and all of the evil diseases of Egypt which you knew, He will not set upon you, but He will lay them upon all your enemies.


Moses tells Israelites that they will destroy all enemies: “You shall not fear them”

  • And you shall consume all the peoples which the Lord your G-d gives you; you shall not spare them, nor shall you worship their gods, for that will be a snare for you. Will you say to yourself, "These nations are more numerous than I; how will I be able to drive them out"? You shall not fear them.
  • You shall surely remember what the Lord, your G-d, did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt: The great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm with which the Lord, your G-d, brought you out. So will the Lord, Your G-d, do to all the peoples you fear. And also the tzir'ah, the Lord, your G-d, will incite against them, until the survivors and those who hide from you perish. You shall not be terrified of them, for the Lord, your G-d, Who is in your midst, is a great and awesome G-d. And the Lord, your G-d, will drive out those nations from before you, little by little. You will not be able to destroy them quickly, lest the beasts of the field outnumber you. But the Lord, your G-d, will deliver them to you, and He will confound them with great confusion, until they are destroyed. And He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you will destroy their name from beneath the heavens; no man will be able to stand up before you, until you have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods you will burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or gold that is upon them and take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord, your G-d. Nor should you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be are to be destroyed like it, but you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is to be destroyed.


 
Prev Page