12 If you pay attention to these instructions and always obey them, then your god Yahweh will keep the agreement that he promised to your ancestors and continue to display his loyal commitment to you,[ref] 13 and he will love you and bless you. He’ll grant you many children and make your farming productive, producing grain and grapes for wine, and olive oil. Your cattle and sheep and goats will multiply on the land that he promised your ancestors that he’d give you. 14 You’ll be blessed more than any other people group. All of you will be able to have children, and all of your livestock will produce offspring. 15 Yahweh will keep sickness away from you. All those horrible diseases that your ancestors saw in Egypt won’t affect you, but instead he’ll give them to those who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the peoples that your god Yahweh gives you victory over—don’t allow yourselves to pity them, and don’t serve their gods because that would end up trapping you.

17 Don’t tell yourselves that because those groups have many more people than you, that you won’t be able to drive them out. 18 You mustn’t be afraid of them, but rather you should think back to what your god Yahweh did to Far-oh and to all Egypt. 19 Remember the terrible plagues that you saw, and the powerful miracles that your god Yahweh used to bring you out. That’s what he’ll do to the people groups that you’re still afraid of now. 20 What’s more, after that your god Yahweh will send hornets against any who are left or in hiding, until they’re all destroyed. 21 Don’t be afraid of those people, because your god Yahweh will be with you. He’s a powerful god that people are in awe of. 22 He’ll drive those people groups out bit by bit—don’t try to destroy them all at once or else the wild animals would multiply up and cause problems. 23 Your god Yahweh will enable you to defeat those people groups and cause them to panic until they are destroyed. 24 He’ll enable you to defeat their kings and their names will be forgotten from history. No one will be able to stand against you until you finally destroy them. 25 You must burn their idols in a fire—don’t be tempted to take any gold or silver decorations off them in case you get trapped by it, because your god Yahweh hates every part of those idols. 26 Don’t take any of those disgusting idols into your homes or you too might become a target for destruction. You should hate and detest them because they’re destined for destruction.