Deuteronomy 13:16

You must pile up all the people's possessions in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the town and everything in it as a complete burnt offering to the Lord your God. The town must remain a heap of ruins forever. It must never be rebuilt.

Free Bible Version

In The King James Version

And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

In Context

15then you have to kill the people living in that town with the sword. Set apart for destruction its people and its livestock.

17Don't take for yourselves anything that has been set apart for destruction so that the Lord won't be angry any more. He will be merciful to you, showing you compassion, and giving you many descendants as he promised to your forefathers,

Read all of Deuteronomy 13

Cross References

Exodus 22:19Anyone who has sex with an animal must be executed.

Joshua 6:21They destroyed everything in the city: men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep, and donkeys, all were killed by the sword.

Joshua 6:26At that time Joshua declared a curse, saying: “Cursed before the Lord is anyone who attempts to rebuild this city of Jericho. He lays its foundation at the cost of his firstborn son; he sets up its gates at the cost of his youngest son.”

Isaiah 17:1A message about Damascus. Look, Damascus will cease to exist as a city. Instead it will become a pile of ruins.

Jeremiah 49:2Watch out! The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will signal the attack on the Ammonite town of Rabbah. It will be turned into a pile of ruins, and its villages will be burned down. Then the Israelites will drive out the people who took over their land, says the Lord.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 13:13-18

12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known; 14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with… Read the whole commentary →

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