Deuteronomy 7:2

7:2 and he ¹  delivers them over to you and you attack them, you must utterly annihilate ²  them. Make no treaty ³  with them and show them no mercy!

Deuteronomy 7:16

Exhortation to Destroy Canaanite Paganism

7:16 You must destroy ⁴  all the people whom the Lord your God is about to deliver over to you; you must not pity them or worship ⁵  their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

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¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

² tn In the Hebrew text the infinitive absolute before the finite verb emphasizes the statement. The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here. Cf. ASV “shalt (must NRSV) utterly destroy them”; CEV “must destroy them without mercy.”

³ tn Heb “covenant” (so NASB, NRSV); TEV “alliance.”

⁴ tn Heb “devour” (so NRSV); KJV, NAB, NASB “consume.” The verbal form (a perfect with vav consecutive) is understood here as having an imperatival or obligatory nuance (cf. the instructions and commands that follow). Another option is to take the statement as a continuation of the preceding conditional promises and translate “and you will destroy.”

⁵ tn Or “serve” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV).