Deuteronomy 20:16

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Deuteronomy 20:14–18 · Berean Standard Bible

14 But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.

15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.

17 For you must devote them to complete destruction —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,

18 so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

Hebrew words

Data created by STEPBible.org based on work at Tyndale House Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

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Cross-references

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.

Deuteronomy 7:1

When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you—

Deuteronomy 7:2

and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Deuteronomy 7:3

Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,

Deuteronomy 7:4

because they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you.

Deuteronomy 7:16

You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Numbers 21:2

So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.”

Numbers 21:3

And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah.

Numbers 21:35

So they struck down Og, along with his sons and his whole army, until no remnant was left. And they took possession of his land.

Numbers 33:52

you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

Joshua 6:17

Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent.

Joshua 6:18

But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it.

Joshua 6:19

For all the silver and gold and all the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they must go into His treasury.”

Joshua 6:20

So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it.

Joshua 6:21

At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

Joshua 9:24

The Gibeonites answered, “Your servants were told clearly that the LORD your God had commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land and wipe out all its inhabitants before you. So we greatly feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we have done this.

Joshua 9:27

On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers, as they are to this day for the congregation of the LORD and for the altar at the place He would choose.

Joshua 10:28

On that day Joshua captured Makkedah and put it to the sword, along with its king. He devoted to destruction everyone in the city, leaving no survivors. So he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Joshua 10:40

So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.

Joshua 11:11

The Israelites put everyone in Hazor to the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained, and Joshua burned down Hazor itself.

Joshua 11:12

Joshua captured all these kings and their cities and put them to the sword. He devoted them to destruction, as Moses the LORD’s servant had commanded.

Joshua 11:14

The Israelites took for themselves all the plunder and livestock of these cities, but they put all the people to the sword until they had completely destroyed them, not sparing anyone who breathed.