Study Desk

"In the future, your children might ask you, ‘The Lord our God gave you teachings, laws, and rules. What do they mean?'

The Lord commanded us to follow all these teachings. We must respect the Lord our God. Then he will always keep us alive and doing well, as we are today.

If we carefully obey the whole law, exactly as the Lord our God told us to, he will say that we have done a very good thing.'

"The Lord your God will lead you into the land that you are entering to take for your own. He will force out many nations for you—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations greater and more powerful than you.

The Lord your God will put these nations under your power. And you will defeat them. You must destroy them completely. Don't make an agreement with them or show them mercy.

Do this because you are the Lord 's own people. From all the people on earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his special people—people who belong only to him.

"So remember that the Lord your God is the only God, and you can trust him! He keeps his agreement. He shows his love and kindness to all people who love him and obey his commands. He continues to show his love and kindness through a thousand generations,

"If you listen to these laws, and if you are careful to obey them, the Lord your God will keep his agreement of love with you. He promised this to your ancestors.

You must destroy all the people the Lord your God helps you defeat. Don't feel sorry for them, and don't worship their gods! They will trap you—they will ruin your life.

You must not be afraid of them. You must remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the people of Egypt.

You saw the great troubles he gave them and the amazing things he did. You saw the Lord use his great power and strength to bring you out of Egypt. The Lord your God will use that same power against all the people you fear.

"The Lord your God will send the hornet against them. He will do this until he destroys all the people who escaped and tried to hide.

Don't be afraid of them, because the Lord your God is with you. He is a great and awesome God.

The Lord your God will force those nations to leave your country little by little. You will not destroy them all at once. If you did, the wild animals would grow to be too many for you.

But the Lord your God will let you defeat those nations. He will confuse them in battle, until they are destroyed.

"You must throw the statues of their gods into the fire and burn them. You must not want to keep the silver or the gold that is on those statues for yourselves. It will be like a trap to you—it will ruin your life. The Lord your God hates those idols.

And you must remember the entire trip that the Lord your God has led you through these 40 years in the desert. He was testing you. He wanted to make you humble. He wanted to know what is in your heart. He wanted to know if you would obey his commands.

You must remember that the Lord your God teaches and corrects you as a father teaches and corrects his son.

"You must obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow him and respect him.

The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with rivers and pools of water. Water flows out of the ground in the valleys and hills.