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.

Deuteronomy 7:23-24

7:23 The Lord your God will give them over to you; he will throw them into a great panic ⁶  until they are destroyed. 7:24 He will hand over their kings to you and you will erase their very names from memory. ⁷  Nobody will be able to resist you until you destroy them.

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).

⁶ tn Heb “he will confuse them (with) great confusion.” The verb used here means “shake, stir up” (see Ruth 1:19; 1 Sam 4:5; 1 Kgs 1:45; Ps 55:2); the accompanying cognate noun refers to confusion, unrest, havoc, or panic (1 Sam 5:9, 11; 14:20; 2 Chr 15:5; Prov 15:16; Isa 22:5; Ezek 7:7; 22:5; Amos 3:9; Zech 14:13).

⁷ tn Heb “you will destroy their name from under heaven” (cf. KJV); NRSV “blot out their name from under heaven.”