Deuteronomy 20:15

15 Thus thou shalt do to all the cities, that be full far from thee, and be not of these (nigh) cities which thou shalt take into possession. (Thus thou shalt do, to all the cities that be far away from thee, but not to the cities that be near, which thou shalt take for a possession.)

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 thy Lord God hath betaken it in(to) thine hands, thou shalt smite by the sharpness of sword all thing of male kind that is therein, (And when the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thy hands, thou shalt strike down, or shalt kill, with the sharpness of the sword, all the males who be there,)

14 without women, and young children, beasts, and other things that be in the city. Thou shalt part all the prey to the host, and thou shalt eat of the spoils of thine enemies, which spoils thy Lord God hath given to thee. (but not the women, and the young children, and the beasts, and the other things that be in the city. Thou shalt divide all the prey among the army, and thou shalt eat the spoils of thy enemies, which spoils the Lord thy God hath given thee.)

15 Thus thou shalt do to all the cities, that be full far from thee, and be not of these (nigh) cities which thou shalt take into possession. (Thus thou shalt do, to all the cities that be far away from thee, but not to the cities that be near, which thou shalt take for a possession.)

16 But of these cities that shall be given to thee, thou shalt not suffer any to live, but thou shalt slay by the sharpness of sword; (But in these cities that shall be given to thee by the Lord, thou shalt not allow anyone to remain alive, but thou shalt kill them all by the sharpness of the sword;)

17 that is to say, Hittites, and Amorites, and Canaanites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and Jebusites, as thy Lord God hath commanded to thee;