Deuteronomy 7:18-26

18 Thou shalt not be afraid of them: [but] shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt;

19 The great temptations which thy eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the out-stretched arm, by which the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do to all the people of whom thou art afraid.

20 Moreover, the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, shall be destroyed.

21 Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God [is] among you, a mighty God and terrible.

22 And the LORD thy God will drive out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

23 But the LORD thy God shall deliver them to thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they are destroyed.

24 And he shall deliver their kings into thy hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou shalt have destroyed them.

25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold [that is] on them, nor take [it] to thee, lest thou shouldst be snared in it: for it [is] an abomination to the LORD thy God.

26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thy house, lest thou shouldst be a cursed thing like it: [but] thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it [is] a cursed thing.

Deuteronomy 7:18-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 7

In this chapter the Israelites are exhorted to destroy the seven nations of the land of Canaan, when they entered into it, and to make no alliances with them of any kind, nor suffer any remains of idolatry to continue, De 7:1-5 to observe which, and other commands of God, they are urged from the consideration of their being freely chosen of God above all other people, and of their being redeemed out of the house of bondage, and of the Lord's being a covenant keeping God to them, De 7:6-11 and it is promised them, for their further encouragement to keep the commands of God, that they should have an increase of all temporal good things, and no evils and calamities should come upon them, De 6:12-16, and, lest they should be disheartened at the numbers and might of their enemies, they are put in mind of what God had done for them in Egypt, and of what he had promised to do for them now, De 7:17-20 and they are assured that the nations should be cast out before them by little and little, until they were utterly destroyed, De 7:21-24 and the chapter is concluded with an exhortation to destroy their images, and not admit anything of that sort to be brought into their houses, De 7:25,26.