Exodus 23:20-33

Common English Bible

God’s promise: messenger and land

²⁰ I’m about to send a messenger in front of you to guard you on your way and to bring you to the place that I’ve made ready. ²¹ Pay attention to him and do as he says. Don’t rebel against him. He won’t forgive the things you do wrong because I^[a] am with him. ²² But if you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, then I’ll be an enemy to your enemies and fight those fighting you.

²³ When my messenger goes in front of you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I wipe them out, ²⁴ don’t bow down to their gods, worship them, or do what they do. Instead, you should completely destroy them and smash their sacred stone pillars to bits. ²⁵ If you worship the Lord your God, the Lord will bless your bread and your water. I’ll take sickness away from you, ²⁶ and no woman will miscarry or be infertile in your land. I’ll let you live a full, long life. ²⁷ My terrifying reputation will precede you, and I’ll throw all the people that you meet into a panic. I’ll make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ I’ll send insect swarms in front of you and drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. ²⁹ I won’t drive them out before you in a single year so the land won’t be abandoned and the wild animals won’t multiply around you. ³⁰ I’ll drive them out before you little by little, until your numbers grow and you eventually possess the land. ³¹ I’ll set your borders from the Reed Sea^[b] to the Philistine Sea and from the desert to the River. I’ll hand the inhabitants of the land over to you, and you will drive them out before you. ³² Don’t make any covenants with them or their gods. ³³ Don’t allow them to live in your land, or else they will lead you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a dangerous trap for you.