Deuteronomy 20:15

15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these Gentiles.

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 if the LORD thy God should deliver it into thine hands, then thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.

14 Only the women and the little ones and the animals and all that is in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat of the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God has given thee.

15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these Gentiles.

16 Only of the cities of these peoples, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breathes;

17 but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD thy God has commanded thee,