But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you;
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Deuteronomy 20:16-17 sits inside this longer paragraph.
When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you, then it shall be that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you. If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it. When Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword; but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you; that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God. When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you? Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
Parallel Translations
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But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;
but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you;
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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:
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
Show all 3 translations
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Howbeit of the cities of these peoples, that the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth,
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 hath commanded thee;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Commandments (3)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (19)
- Joshua 11:14 (v16) The children of Israel took all the plunder of these cities, with the livestock, as plunder for themselves; but every man they struck with…
- Numbers 21:2-3 (v16) Israel vowed a vow to Yahweh, and said, “If you will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities.”…
- Numbers 33:52 (v16) then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their stone idols, destroy all their molten images,…
- Deuteronomy 7:1-4 (v16) When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the…
- Joshua 6:17-21 (v16) The city shall be devoted, even it and all that is in it, to Yahweh. Only Rahab the prostitute shall live, she and all who are with her in…
Show all 19 cross-references
- Exodus 23:31-33 (v16) I will set your border from the Red Sea even to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River; for I will deliver the…
- Numbers 21:35 (v16) So they struck him, with his sons and all his people, until there were no survivors; and they possessed his land.
- Deuteronomy 7:1-2 (v17) When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the…
- Deuteronomy 7:16 (v16) You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods;…
- Joshua 10:28 (v16) Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and struck it with the edge of the sword, with its king. He utterly destroyed it and all the souls who…
- Joshua 10:40 (v16) So Joshua struck all the land, the hill country, the South, the lowland, the slopes, and all their kings. He left no one remaining, but he…
- Joshua 11:11-12 (v16) They struck all the souls who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was no one left who breathed. He burned…
- Isaiah 34:5-6 (v17) For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. Yahweh’s sword…
- Jeremiah 48:10 (v17) “Cursed is he who does the work of Yahweh negligently; and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.
- Jeremiah 50:35-40 (v17) “A sword is on the Chaldeans,” says Yahweh, “and on the inhabitants of Babylon, on her princes, and on her wise men. A sword is on the…
- Ezekiel 38:21-23 (v17) I will call for a sword against him to all my mountains,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother. I will…
- Joshua 9:24 (v16) They answered Joshua, and said, “Because your servants were certainly told how Yahweh your God commanded his servant Moses to give you all…
- Joshua 9:27 (v16) That day Joshua made them wood cutters and drawers of water for the congregation and for Yahweh’s altar to this day, in the place which he…
- Revelation 19:18 (v17) that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them,…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (12 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On v17 Deu 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; [namely],…
Deu 20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; [namely], the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
Ver. 17. The Hivites and the Jebusites.] The Girgashites are not reckoned among the rest, as neither are they in Jos 9:1, haply because they accepted of conditions of peace.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v16 Heb. no seed, i.e. no man, as that word…
Heb. no seed, i.e. no man, as that word is oft used. Compare Jos 10:40, with Deu 11:14. For the beasts, some few excepted as being under a special curse, were given them for a prey.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–17 But of the cities of those people, which the…
But of the cities of those people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance,.... The cities of the seven nations, six of which are mentioned by name in the next verse:
thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth; the reason of this severity was because of their wickedness, the capital crimes and gross abominations they were guilty of, and for which they deserved to die; and on account whereof they were reserved to this destruction, when the measure of their iniquities was full, such as idolatry, incest, witchcraft, soothsaying, necromancy, &c. see Lev 18:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v16 Nothing - No man. For the beasts, some few…
Nothing - No man. For the beasts, some few excepted, were given them for a prey.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v17 Verse 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them] The…
Verse 17. But thou shalt utterly destroy them] The above reasoning will gain considerable strength, provided we could translate כי החרם תחרימם hi hacharem tacharimem, thou shalt utterly subdue them - slaying them if they resist, and thus leaving nothing alive that breathed; or totally expel them from the land, or reduce them to a state of slavery in it, that they might no longer exist as a people. This certainly made them an anathema as a nation, wholly destroying their political existence. Probably this was so understood by the Gibeonites, viz., that they either must be slain or utterly leave the land, which last was certainly in their power, and therefore, by a stratagem, they got the princes of Israel to make a league with them. When the deceit was discovered, the Israelites, though not bound by their oath, because they were deceived by the Gibeonites, and therefore were under no obligation to fulfil their part of the covenant; yet, though they had this command before their eyes, did not believe that they were bound to put even those deceivers to death; but they destroyed their political existence, by making them hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation; i. e., slaves to the Israelites. (See Jos 9:23) Rahab and her household also were spared. So that it does not appear that the Israelites believed that they were bound to put every Canaanite to death. Their political existence was under the anathema, and this the Hebrews annihilated.
That many of the Canaanites continued in the land even to the days of Solomon, we have the fullest proof; for we read, 2Ch 8:7: "All the people of the land that were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were left in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make to pay tribute to this day." Thus Solomon destroyed their political existence, but did not consider himself bound by the law of God to put them to death.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v16 Deu 20:16. Thou shalt save alive nothing — No…
Deu 20:16. Thou shalt save alive nothing — No human creature; for the beasts, some few excepted, were given for a prey. This slaughter of all the people is to be understood only in case they did not surrender when summoned, but rejected the conditions of peace when offered them. In which case their condition was worse than that of any other people, whose males only were to be slain, Deu 20:14.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv16–17 Live. Hebrew, "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth."…
Live. Hebrew, "thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth." Josephus ([Antiquities?] iv. 8.) acknowledges that all were to be slain; though some of the Rabbins have supposed that they might be spared, if they would abandon idols, &c.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v16 16. Of these people — The Canaanites and kindred…
16. Of these people — The Canaanites and kindred nations.
Thou shalt save alive nothing — Not a human being was to be left alive. The abominations of these idolatrous nations were such that only by obliterating them wholly could the Israelites be exempt from their corruptions. The punishment of the Canaanites seems severe, but shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–17 16. But] Heb. rak, introducing an opposite case, see…
16. But] Heb. rak, introducing an opposite case, see Deu_10:15.
thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth] Heb. any breath, i.e. human life (Gen_2:7, 1Ki_17:17, Isa_42:5), cp. the deuteronomic Jos_10:40; Jos_11:11; Jos_11:14. Only in Gen_7:22 does the phrase cover animals.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v16 Vers. 16-20. This was for cities at a distance;…
Vers. 16-20. This was for cities at a distance; it was to be otherwise with the cities of the Canaanites. To them no offer of peaceful submission was to be made, and when the city was taken, all the inhabitants without reserve were to be destroyed. This was in accordance with God"s command to Israel (Exo_23:31-33 Exo_34:11-16; Deu_7:1-3) and as a precaution against the risk of the people being seduced into idolatry by the heathen should they be allowed to remain in the land. But whilst engaged in besieging a town, they were not to destroy the fruit trees that were outside the walls; but trees that were not for food they might cut down and use in their operations against the city.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v16 Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.
Deu_20:16-18
Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.
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Extermination of Canaanites
Is not this fierce irruption in Canaan with fire and sword precisely similar to the wave of Mahomedan conquest? Is it any way different from the most pitiless of heathen invasions? How can we justify such an acquisition of territory as this, whilst we are, at least in theory, so scrupulous about adding one acre of unjustly acquired land to our dominions, and cannot let one drop of blood be shed, even in a conquered race, without inquiry? The key to this difficulty was given in the very first confirmation of the grant made to Abraham. When the land of Canaan was made over to him and his descendants, he was told that they could not at once enter on possession, because the iniquity of the Amorites was not full. The transference of territory was thus from the first viewed and treated as a judicial transaction. God reserves to Himself the right which all sovereigns must and do reserve--the right of removing offenders from the earth, and of confiscating their goods. In other respects this invasion finds a parallel in almost every century of history, and in every part of the world. It is, in point of fact, by conquest that civilisation has spread and is spreading upon earth, and in the career of progress the nations whose iniquities are full--that is to say, which have fallen too low for national redemption--have been swept away by the purer and stronger races. In this, therefore, there is no difference between the conduct of Israel and the conduct of other great nations. The difference consists in this--that while other nations have pushed their conquests for love of gain or glory, or through pride in their leader or mere lust of adventure, Israel entered Canaan as Gods servant, again and again warned that they were merely Gods sword of justice, and that if they forgot this, and began to think it was their own might that had emptied the land for them, they should themselves suffer the like extermination. Between this and many other outwardly similar conquests there was, in short, all the difference which there is between a righteous execution which rejoices the hearts of all good men, and a murder which makes us ashamed of our nature. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
Unselfish conquest
The difference between the Jews and other people is precisely this:--All the great nations that we read of have effected extensive and, on the whole, salutary conquests. Their triumphs have been the means of spreading law, government, civilisation, where they would otherwise not have reached. They have swept away feeble, corrupt, sensualised people, who had become animal worshippers or devil worshippers, and had lost all sense of their human dignity. But we feel that the nations who have done these works have done them in great part for their own glory, for the increase of their territory, at the instigation and for the gratification of particular leaders. All higher and more blessed results of their success, which it is impossible not to recognise, have been stained and corrupted by the ignoble and selfish tendencies which have mixed with them, and been the motives to them; so that we are continually perplexed with the question, what judgment we shall form of them, or what different causes we can find for such opposite effects. There is one nation which is taught from the very first that it is not to go out to win any prizes for itself, to bring home the silver or gold, the sheep or the oxen, the men servants or the women servants; that it is to be simply the instrument of the righteous Lord against those who were polluting His earth, and making it unfit for human habitation. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)
The command to extirpate the Canaanites
This command to extirpate the Canaanites is regarded by many as one of the chief difficulties in the Old Testament. The difficulty lies not so much in the thing itself, as in our defective views of God, or of mails relation to Him, or of the supernatural character of the revelation made to Moses. The objection, it will be observed, is grounded (or it has no force) upon the supposed inconsistency of this command with the Divine righteousness and equity. Yet there are other acts of God, equally terrible and equally indiscriminate in their effects, which we never presume to call in question. When, for example, the Almighty sends an earthquake or a pestilence, there is no complaint of injustice; and yet earthquake and pestilence spare neither age nor sex nor rank, but involve all in the same ruin. Do fire or famine or cholera discriminate between the sexes, or spare the aged or the young? If the sword of Israel was commissioned to destroy all that breathed of the Canaanites, it certainly was not more indiscriminate than these other judgments of God. If we dare not assert or even insinuate injustice in the case of the one, neither can we rationally do so in the case of the other; nor can we deny to the Almighty the right to choose this or that method of chastising a guilty people, whether earthquake or famine, pestilence or war. We may further remember that the annihilation of a people is so far from being a new or an unexampled occurrence, that similar events in the overruling wisdom of God have been continually taking place ever since the dawn of history. For an example of it we need not travel beyond our own shores. Where are the original inhabitants of England? The Briton was subdued by the Saxon, the Saxon was driven out by the Norman and the Dane, each race leaving, however, some trace of itself in the stock and blood of the country. Yet the original race has been more completely extirpated than ever the Canaanitish races were during the Hebrew occupancy of Palestine. Still more complete has been the disappearance of the North American Indians. The red man has been driven farther and farther towards the setting sun, till the race seems threatened with absolute extermination, and is actually extinct over an area twenty times as great as that of Palestine. It appears to be an unvarying law, that the savage recedes before the civilised man. We cannot justify all the means by which this result is accomplished, or palliate the dark and monstrous crimes which have been perpetrated in the name of civilisation; yet it is an evident fact that the Ruler of nations is pleased to ordain, or to permit, that nations should be driven from their ancestral inheritance, and their places filled by others. Thus we see that what happened to the Canaanites is happening continually in the history of nations. In this view the phenomenon of the destruction of the Canaanite nations does not stand alone. It can be referred to a class. And there is no more ground for disputing the Divine justice in regard to the destruction of those people than in regard to the disappearance of scores and perhaps hundreds of other ancient races from the face of the earth; for it cannot be contended that there is any difference, as it regards justice and equity, whether a nation be extirpated by war, destroyed by famine or pestilence, or left to perish, like the aborigines of Australia, by hopeless and helpless exhaustion. (L. H. Wiseman M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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In the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance
The cities in Canaan that Yahweh is giving to the people is spoken of as if the cities were the people's inheritance. (See: Metaphor)
you must save alive nothing that breathes
"you must not let any living thing stay alive." This can be stated in positive form. AT: "you must kill every living thing" (See: Litotes)
you must completely destroy them
"you must completely destroy these people groups"
Do this so that they
"Destroy these nations so that they"
to act in any of their abominable ways ... their gods
"to act in abominable ways like the people in these nations have done with their gods"
If you do, you will sin against Yahweh your God
"If you act like these people, you will sin against Yahweh your God"
translationWords
people group
inherit
save
life
breath
Hittite
Amorite
Canaan
Perizzite
Hivite
Jebus
command
abomination
false god
sin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.