²⁴ Do not bow down before their gods or worship^(A) them or follow their practices.^(B) You must demolish^(C) them and break their sacred stones^(D) to pieces.

¹⁷ I will set my face^(A) against you so that you will be defeated^(B) by your enemies;^(C) those who hate you will rule over you,^(D) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(E)

³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins^(A) and lay waste^(B) your sanctuaries,^(C) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^{(D) 32} I myself will lay waste the land,^(E) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^{(F) 33} I will scatter^(G) you among the nations^(H) and will draw out my sword^(I) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(J) and your cities will lie in ruins.^{(K) 34} Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(L) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(M) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(N) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶ “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf^(O) will put them to flight.^(P) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^{(Q) 37} They will stumble over one another^(R) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^{(S) 38} You will perish^(T) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^{(U) 39} Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(V) sins they will waste away.^(W)

²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated^(A) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(B) and you will become a thing of horror^(C) to all the kingdoms on earth.^{(D) 26} Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(E) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{(F) 27} The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(G) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope^(H) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue^(I) you.

³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(J) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(K) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^{(L) 31} Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,^(M) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression^(N) all your days.^{(O) 34} The sights you see will drive you mad.^{(P) 35} The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(Q) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(R)

³⁶ The Lord will drive you and the king^(S) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(T) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^{(U) 37} You will become a thing of horror,^(V) a byword^(W) and an object of ridicule^(X) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(Y)

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(Z) because locusts^(AA) will devour^(AB) it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(AC) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(AD) them.^{(AE) 40} You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^{(AF) 41} You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^{(AG) 42} Swarms of locusts^(AH) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³ The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.^{(AI) 44} They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(AJ) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(AK)

⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(AL) until you are destroyed,^(AM) because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.^{(AN) 47} Because you did not serve^(AO) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(AP) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst,^(AQ) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(AR) on your neck^(AS) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you^(AT) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(AU) like an eagle^(AV) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^{(AW) 50} a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(AX) or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine^(AY) or olive oil,^(AZ) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^{(BA) 52} They will lay siege^(BB) to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(BC)

⁵³ Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.^{(BD) 54} Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.^{(BE) 56} The most gentle and sensitive^(BF) woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter^{(BG) 57} the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(BH) secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

⁵⁸ If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law,^(BI) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(BJ) this glorious and awesome name^(BK)—the Lord your God— ⁵⁹ the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt^(BL) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law,^(BM) until you are destroyed.^{(BN) 62} You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(BO) will be left but few^(BP) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased^(BQ) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(BR) him to ruin and destroy you.^(BS) You will be uprooted^(BT) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter^(BU) you among all nations,^(BV) from one end of the earth to the other.^(BW) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^{(BX) 65} Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(BY) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(BZ) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^{(CA) 66} You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.^{(CB) 68} The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(CC) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Israel Fights the Remaining Canaanites^(A)

1 After the death^(B) of Joshua, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who of us is to go up first^(C) to fight against the Canaanites?^(D)”

² The Lord answered, “Judah^(E) shall go up; I have given the land into their hands.^(F)”

³ The men of Judah then said to the Simeonites their fellow Israelites, “Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours.” So the Simeonites^(G) went with them.

⁴ When Judah attacked, the Lord gave the Canaanites and Perizzites^(H) into their hands, and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.^{(I) 5} It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek^(J) and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. ⁶ Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

⁷ Then Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back^(K) for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem,^(L) and he died there.

⁸ The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem^(M) also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

⁹ After that, Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country,^(N) the Negev^(O) and the western foothills. ¹⁰ They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron^(P) (formerly called Kiriath Arba^(Q)) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai.^{(R) 11} From there they advanced against the people living in Debir^(S) (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

¹² And Caleb said, “I will give my daughter Aksah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher.” ¹³ Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Aksah to him in marriage.

¹⁴ One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him^[a] to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, “What can I do for you?”

¹⁵ She replied, “Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.^(T)

¹⁶ The descendants of Moses’ father-in-law,^(U) the Kenite,^(V) went up from the City of Palms^[b](W) with the people of Judah to live among the inhabitants of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad.^(X)

¹⁷ Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites^(Y) their fellow Israelites and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed^[c] the city. Therefore it was called Hormah.^{[d](Z) 18} Judah also took^[e] Gaza,^(AA) Ashkelon^(AB) and Ekron—each city with its territory.

¹⁹ The Lord was with^(AC) the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country,^(AD) but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.^{(AE) 20} As Moses had promised, Hebron^(AF) was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.^{(AG) 21} The Benjamites, however, did not drive out^(AH) the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem;^(AI) to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

²² Now the tribes of Joseph^(AJ) attacked Bethel,^(AK) and the Lord was with them. ²³ When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),^{(AL) 24} the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well.^(AM)” ²⁵ So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared^(AN) the man and his whole family. ²⁶ He then went to the land of the Hittites,^(AO) where he built a city and called it Luz,^(AP) which is its name to this day.

²⁷ But Manasseh did not^(AQ) drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor^(AR) or Ibleam^(AS) or Megiddo^(AT) and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites^(AU) were determined to live in that land. ²⁸ When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.^{(AV) 29} Nor did Ephraim^(AW) drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer,^(AX) but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.^{(AY) 30} Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, so these Canaanites lived among them, but Zebulun did subject them to forced labor. ³¹ Nor did Asher^(AZ) drive out those living in Akko or Sidon^(BA) or Ahlab or Akzib^(BB) or Helbah or Aphek^(BC) or Rehob.^{(BD) 32} The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out. ³³ Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh^(BE) or Beth Anath^(BF); but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them. ³⁴ The Amorites^(BG) confined the Danites^(BH) to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain.^{(BI) 35} And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres,^(BJ) Aijalon^(BK) and Shaalbim,^(BL) but when the power of the tribes of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. ³⁶ The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass^(BM) to Sela^(BN) and beyond.^(BO)