Deuteronomy 3:6

6 We devoted them to destruction, ^[a] as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

Deuteronomy 3:6 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 3:6

And we utterly destroyed them
Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them:

as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon;
they did not destroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt in them; but the people that lived there, as follows here:

utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city;
see ( Deuteronomy 2:34 ) .

Deuteronomy 3:6 In-Context

4 At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

5 All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages.

6 We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city.

7 But all the livestock and plunder of the cities we carried off for ourselves.

8 At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon—

Footnotes

• [a]. Forms of the Hebrew cherem refer to the giving over of things or persons to the LORD, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.