23. My angel will go ahead of you and take you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.
24. “You must not bow down to their gods or worship them. You must not live the way those people live. You must destroy their idols, breaking into pieces the stone pillars they use in worship.
25. If you worship the Lord your God, I will bless your bread and your water. I will take away sickness from you.
26. None of your women will have her baby die before it is born, and all women will have children. I will allow you to live long lives.
27. “I will make your enemies afraid of me. I will confuse any people you fight against, and I will make all your enemies run away from you.
28. I will send terror ahead of you that will force the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out of your way.
29. But I will not force all those people out in only one year. If I did, the land would become a desert and the wild animals would become too many for you.
30. Instead, I will force those people out slowly, until there are enough of you to take over the land.
31. “I will give you the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will give you power over the people who now live in the land, and you will force them out ahead of you.
32. You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods.
33. You must not let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, you will be caught in a trap.”