Deuteronomy 20:15

15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities [which are] very distant from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations.

Deuteronomy 20:15 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:15

Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off
from thee
As all such were reckoned that were without the land of Israel, even all in their neighbouring nations, the Moabites, Edomites, Ammonites, Syrians for the children of Israel never went to war with any very distant nations, unless they came unto them and invaded them; nor did they seek to carry their conquests to any great distance, when the most powerful and victorious, as in the days of David and Solomon:

which are not of the cities of these nations;
of these seven nations, as the Targum of Jonathan, the seven nations of the land of Canaan; all that were not of them were accounted foreign cities, and at a distance.

Deuteronomy 20:15 In-Context

13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [even] all the spoil of it, shalt thou take to thyself: and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities [which are] very distant from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations.

16 But of the cities of these people which the LORD thy God doth give thee [for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them, [namely], the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: