Deuteronomy 20:16

For of the cities of these nations which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not spare alive any breathing thing,

Targum Onkelos

In The King James Version

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:

In Context

15Thus shalt thou do to all cities which are remote from thee, but are not of the cities of these nations;

17But utterly destroy them, Hittites and Amorites, Kenaanites and Pheresites, Hivites and Jebusites, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee;

Read all of Deuteronomy 20

Cross References

Numbers 21:2And Israel vowed a vow before the Lord, and said: If Thou wilt surely deliver this people into my hand, then I will destroy their cities.

Numbers 33:52You shall cast out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, demolish all the houses of their worship, destroy all their molten images, and lay waste all their high places.

Deuteronomy 7:1When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land into which thou goest to possess it, and cast out many peoples from before thee, the Hittites Girgashites, Amorites, Kenaanites, Pherizites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations, greater and mightier than thou,

Deuteronomy 7:16And thou shalt consume all the peoples that the Lord thy God will give up to thee; thine eye shall not have pity upon them, nor shalt thou serve their idols, for that will be a stumbling-block to thee.

Deuteronomy 31:5The Lord will deliver them up, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments that I have commanded you.

Matthew Henry on Deuteronomy 20:11-20

Proclamations of War; Directions Concerning War. ( b. c. 1451.) 10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. 11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. 12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: 13 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Deuteronomy 20:16