You Are God’s People

7 The Lord your God will bring you into the land that you are entering and that you will ·have as your own [possess]. As you go in, he will ·force out [clear away/out] these nations: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations that are stronger than you. ² The Lord your God will hand these nations over to you, and when you ·defeat [^Lstrike] them, you must ·destroy them completely [devote them to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17]. Do not ·make [^Lcut] a ·peace treaty [covenant] with them or show them any mercy. ³ Do not marry any of them, or let your daughters marry their sons, or let your sons marry their daughters. ⁴ If you do, those people will turn your children away from me, to begin serving other gods. Then the Lord will be very angry with you, and he will quickly destroy you. ⁵ This is what you must do to those people: Tear down their altars, smash their holy stone pillars, cut down their ·Asherah idols [^LAsherah; 7:5; Judg. 3:7], and burn their idols in the fire. ⁶ You are holy people who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth ·to be his very own [as his treasured/special possession; Ex. 19:5].