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Deuteronomy 20:16

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16 "1Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.
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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 ) .

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Deuteronomy 20:16 In-Context

14 "Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use 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 of the cities of these nations nearby.
16 "Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.
17 "But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you,
18 so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Exodus 23:31-33; Numbers 21:2, 3; Deuteronomy 7:1-5; Joshua 11:14
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