Deuteronomy 20:16

16 But ¹in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,

Deuteronomy 20:16 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:16

But of the cities of those people, which the Lord thy God doth
give thee for an inheritance
The cities of the seven nations, six of which are mentioned by name in the next verse:

thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth;
the reason of this severity was because of their wickedness, the capital crimes and gross abominations they were guilty of, and for which they deserved to die; and on account whereof they were reserved to this destruction, when the measure of their iniquities was full, such as idolatry, incest, witchcraft, soothsaying, necromancy see ( Leviticus 18:3 Leviticus 18:24 Leviticus 18:25 Leviticus 18:27 ) ( 20:2-23 ) ( Deuteronomy 18:9-12 ) .

Deuteronomy 20:16 In-Context

14 but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.

15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here.

16 But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,

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

18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 7:1, 2; Numbers 33:52; Joshua 11:14