So you must not make a covenant with the people of this land. Instead, you must tear down their altars.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why did you do it?

你们也不可与这地的居民立约，要拆毁他们的祭坛。你们竟没有听从我的话！为何这样行呢？’

你们不可与这地的居民立约，要拆毁他们的祭坛。’你们竟没有听从我的话。你们为何这样做呢！

你们不可与这地的居民立约，要拆毁他们的祭坛。’你们竟没有听从我的话。你们为何这样做呢！

你们不可跟这里的居民立约，要毁掉他们的祭坛。’可是你们为什么不听呢？

你们不可与这地的居民立约，要拆毁他们的祭坛。’你们竟没有听从我的话；你们作的是什么呢？

你們也不可與這地的居民立約，要拆毀他們的祭壇。你們竟沒有聽從我的話！為何這樣行呢？』

你們不可與這地的居民立約，要拆毀他們的祭壇。』你們竟沒有聽從我的話。你們為何這樣做呢！

你們不可與這地的居民立約，要拆毀他們的祭壇。』你們竟沒有聽從我的話。你們為何這樣做呢！

你們不可跟這裡的居民立約，要毀掉他們的祭壇。』可是你們為什麼不聽呢？

你們不可與這地的居民立約，要拆毀他們的祭壇。’你們竟沒有聽從我的話；你們作的是甚麼呢？

你們呢、也不可和這地的居民立約；他們的祭壇你們要拆毁。」你們竟沒有聽我的話；為甚麼你們這樣行呢？

勿與斯土之民立約、必毀其壇、而爾不聽我言、果何為哉、

爾與斯土之民、不可立約、必摧其壇、汝不遵命、果何為哉。

惟爾不可與斯地之居民立約、當毀其祭壇、爾竟不遵我言、爾何為哉、

and you shall not make a covenant with the people of this land, but you shall break down their altars.’ Yet you have disobeyed me. Why have you done this?

and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?

For your part, you were not to make any covenants with the people living in this land; instead, you were to destroy their altars. But you disobeyed my command. Why did you do this?

You are not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed me. What have you done?

and as for you, you shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed Me; what is this thing that you have done?

And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?

and ye shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall break down their altars. But ye have not hearkened unto my voice: why have ye done this?

You are not to make a covenant with the people who are living in this land, and you are to tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me. What is this you have done?

And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?

but you must not make an agreement with the people who live in this land. You should tear down the altars where they worship.’ But you have disobeyed me. Why would you do such a thing?

You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You shall break down their altars.’ But you have not listened to my voice. Why have you done this?

The Lord your God will hand them over to you. You will win the battle over them. You must completely destroy them. Don’t make a peace treaty with them. Don’t show them any mercy.Don’t marry any of their people. Don’t give your daughters to their sons. And don’t take their daughters for your sons.If you do, those people will turn your children away from serving the Lord. Then your children will serve other gods. The Lord will be very angry with you. He will quickly destroy you.

Why do you keep on changing your ways so much? Assyria did not help you. And Egypt will not help you either.

The Lord says,“ What did your people of long ago find wrong with me? Why did they wander so far away from me? They worshiped worthless statues of gods. Then they themselves became worthless.

It is time for judgment to begin with the household of God. And since it begins with us, what will happen to people who don’t obey God’s good news?

“ You are our God. What can we say after the way you have blessed us? We have turned away from your commands.You gave us your commands through your servants the prophets. You said,‘ You are entering the land to take it as your own. The sinful practices of its people have made the land impure. They have filled it with their“ unclean” acts from one end to the other. The Lord hates all their practices.So don’t let your daughters marry their sons. And don’t let their daughters marry your sons. Don’t make a peace treaty with them at any time. Then you will be strong. You will eat the good things the land produces. And you will leave all of it to your children as their share. They and their children after them will enjoy it forever.’“ Our evil acts and our terrible sins have brought about the things that have happened to us. You are our God. Because we sinned so much, you should have punished us even more than you have. But you have left many of your people alive.

They didn’t destroy the nations in Canaan as the Lord had commanded them.Instead, they mixed with those nations and adopted their ways.They worshiped statues of their gods. That became a trap for them.They sacrificed their sons and daughters as offerings to false gods.They killed those who weren’t guilty of doing anything wrong. They killed their own sons and daughters. They sacrificed them as offerings to statues of the gods of Canaan. The land became“ unclean” because of the blood of their children.The people made themselves impure by what they had done. They weren’t faithful to the Lord.So the Lord became angry with his people. He turned away from his own children.

But what about the cities the Lord your God is giving you as your own? Kill everything that breathes in those cities.Completely destroy them. Wipe out the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That’s what the Lord your God commanded you to do.If you don’t destroy them, they’ll teach you to do all the things the Lord hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

The Lord God said,“ Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”The man said,“ It’s the fault of the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it.”

You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t serve their gods. If you do, they will be a trap for you.

Why do you go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile River? Why do you go to Assyria to drink from the Euphrates River?

Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you.Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah.Do not worship any other god. The Lord is a jealous God. In fact, his name is Jealous.“ Be careful not to make a peace treaty with the people living in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices, and you will do it.You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshiping their gods. Then they will lead your sons to do the same thing.

The Lord said,“ What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.

Drive out all those living in the land. The statues of their gods are made out of stone and metal. Destroy all those statues. And destroy all the high places where they are worshiped.Take the land as your own. Make your homes in it. I have given it to you.

So the Lord became very angry with the Israelites. He said,“ This nation has broken my covenant. I made it with their people of long ago. But this nation has not listened to me.

“ You who are now living, consider my message. I am saying,“ Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been like a land of deep darkness? Why do my people say,‘ We are free to wander. We won’t come to you anymore’?Does a young woman forget all about her jewelry? Does a bride forget her wedding jewels? But my people have forgotten me more days than anyone can count.You are very skilled at chasing after love! Even the worst of women can learn from how you act.

He drove out the nations to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He gave the tribes of Israel a place to make their homes.But they tested God. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn’t keep his laws.They were like their people who lived long ago. They turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn’t shoot straight. They couldn’t be trusted.They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.

Burn the statues of their gods in the fire. Don’t wish for the silver and gold on those statues. Don’t take it for yourselves. If you do, it will be a trap for you. The Lord your God hates it.Don’t bring anything he hates into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. So hate it with all your heart. It is set apart to be destroyed.

Do not be joined to unbelievers. What do right and wrong have in common? Can light and darkness be friends?How can Christ and Satan agree? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?How can the temple of the true God and the statues of other gods agree? We are the temple of the living God. God has said,“ I will live with them. I will walk among them. I will be their God. And they will be my people.”( Leviticus 26:12; Jeremiah 32:38; Ezekiel 37:27)So,“ Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch anything that is not pure and‘ clean.’ Then I will receive you.”( Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:34, 41)

You will soon drive the nations out of it. Completely destroy all the places where they worship their gods. Destroy them on the high mountains, on the hills and under every green tree.Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Burn up the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. Cut down the statues of their gods. Wipe out the names of their gods from those places.

He said to Aaron,“ What did these people do to you? How did they make you lead them into such terrible sin?”

After all these things had been done, the leaders came to me. They said,“ The people of Israel have committed sins. Even the priests and Levites have sinned. They haven’t kept themselves separate from the nations around them. The Lord hates the practices of those nations. He hates what the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites and Jebusites do. He also hates what the Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites do.The men of Israel have married the daughters of some of those people. They’ve also taken some of those women for their sons to marry. So they’ve mixed our holy nation with the nations around us. We leaders and officials have also married women who don’t worship the Lord. By doing this, we have led the way in breaking our covenant with the Lord.”When I heard that, I tore my inner robe and my coat. I pulled hair from my head and beard. I was so shocked I sat down.

I also gave them another command. I said,‘ Obey me. Then I will be your God. And you will be my people. Live the way I command you to live. Then things will go well with you.’But they did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. Instead, they did what their stubborn and evil hearts wanted them to do. They went backward and not forward.Again and again I sent my servants the prophets to you. They came to you day after day. They prophesied from the time your people left Egypt until now.But your people of long ago did not listen. They refused to pay any attention to me. They were stubborn. They did more evil things than their people who lived before them.“ Jeremiah, when you tell them all this, they will not listen to you. When you call out to them, they will not answer.So say to them,‘ You are a nation that has not obeyed the Lord your God. You did not pay attention when you were corrected. Truth has died out. You do not tell the truth anymore.’ ”

Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.Do not let them live in your land. If you do, they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, that will certainly be a trap for you.”

He will punish those who don’t know God. He will punish those who don’t obey the good news about our Lord Jesus.