The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

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- Kapitel 7 -

“When the Lord your God will have led you to the land, which you will enter so as to possess it, and when he will have destroyed many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations much more numerous than you, and more robust than you,

and when the Lord your God will have delivered them to you, you shall strike them down unto utter annihilation. You shall not enter into a pact with them, nor shall you show any pity to them.

And you shall not associate with them in marriage. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor accept his daughter for your son.

For she will seduce your son, so that he will not follow me, and so that he will instead serve foreign gods. And the fury of the Lord will be enraged, and he will quickly destroy you.

So instead, you shall do this to them: overturn their altars, and break their statues, and cut down their sacred groves, and burn up their graven images.

For you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you so that you would be his particular people out of all the peoples who are upon the earth.

It is not because you surpass all the nations in number that the Lord has joined with you and has chosen you, for you are the least numerous of any people.

But it is because the Lord has loved you, and has kept his oath, which he swore to your fathers. And he has led you away with a strong hand, and he has redeemed you from the house of servitude, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

And you shall know that the Lord your God himself is a strong and faithful God, preserving his covenant and his mercy for those who love him and those who keep his precepts for a thousand generations,

and promptly repaying those who hate him, so as to utterly ruin them, without further delay, quickly rendering to them what they deserve.

Therefore, keep the precepts and ceremonies as well as the judgments, which I command to you this day, so that you may do them.

The Promises of God

(Exodus 23:20–33)

If, after you have heard these judgments, you keep and do them, the Lord your God will also keep his covenant with you and the mercy that he swore to your fathers.

And he will love you and multiply you. And he will bless the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your land: your grain as well as your vintage, oil, and herds, and the flocks of your sheep, upon the land about which he swore to your fathers that he would give it to you.(a)

Blessed shall you be among all peoples. No one will be barren among you of either gender, as much among men as among your herds.(b)

The Lord will take all sickness away from you. And the very grievous infirmities of Egypt, which you have known, he will not bring upon you, but upon your enemies.

You shall devour all the peoples, which the Lord your God will deliver to you. Your eye shall not spare them, neither shall you serve their gods, lest they be your ruin.

If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more than I am, so how will I be able to destroy them?’

do not be apprehensive. Instead, recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians:

the very great plagues, which your eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the powerful hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God led you away. So will he do to all the peoples, whom you dread.

Moreover, the Lord your God will also send hornets among them, until he destroys and scatters all who have escaped from you, or who have been able to hide.

You shall not fear them, for the Lord your God is in your midst: a great and terrible God.

He himself will consume these nations in your sight, a little at a time, by degrees. You will not be able to destroy them all at once. Otherwise, the wild beasts of the earth might increase against you.

And so, the Lord your God will present them in your sight, and you shall slay them until they are thoroughly wiped away.

And he shall deliver their kings into your hands, and you shall abolish their names from under heaven. No one will be able to withstand you, until you crush them.

Their graven images, you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or gold from which they have been made. And you shall not take for yourself anything from these, lest you offend, because this is an abomination to the Lord your God.(c)

Neither shall you carry anything of the idol into your house, lest you become accursed, just as it also is. You shall detest it like dung, and you shall abominate it like defilement and filth, because it is an accursed thing.”

Fußnoten

(a)7:13 Even though ‘ventris’ is translated as ‘womb,’ it refers more generally to the generative (reproductive) capability of both men and women.(Conte)

(b)7:14 Here is a clear example of ‘hominibus’ being used to refer to both genders.(Conte)

When the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD’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 the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

The LORD 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 the LORD loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, the LORD 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 the LORD your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness to a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments,

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.

The Promises of God

(Exodus 23:20–33)

It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that the LORD 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.

The LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.

Moreover the LORD 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 the LORD your God is among you, a great and awesome God.

The LORD 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 the LORD 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 the LORD 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.