Breadcrumb: Shock and Awe

Deut. 7 tells the Israelites how they must deal with the Canaanite nations when they conquer the land. It can be summed up pretty simply, "utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them." (Deut. 7:2) They must not marry into those nations or serve their gods. In fact, they must destroy the nations' altars and break their idols. A redundant, if particularly effective, line is Deut. 7:23: "But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed." Really, there's not much room for misunderstanding in that.