Deuteronomy 20:16

Deuteronomy 20:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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:
• New International Version (NIV)However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
• New King James Version (NKJV)“But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,

Context of Deuteronomy 20:16

14But you can take for yourselves the women, the children, the animals and other valuable things in the city. You can take all these things from your enemies that God gives to you. 15You must do this to all the cities that are far away from you. But it is different for the cities that belong to the nations of Canaan where you will live. You will take for yourselves the cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving to you as your home. In those cities, you must kill everything that is alive, people and animals. 17You must completely destroy all the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. The Lord your God has commanded you to do this to the people of those nations. 18If not, they would teach you all the evil things that they do to worship their gods. They would cause you to do bad things against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:16 word by word

רַ֗ק מֵעָרֵ֤י הָֽעַמִּים֙ הָאֵ֔לֶּה אֲשֶׁר֙ יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ נֹתֵ֥ן לְךָ֖ נַחֲלָ֑ה לֹ֥א תְחַיֶּ֖ה כָּל־נְשָׁמָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• But of the citiesעִיר‛îyr ‛âr ‛âyar · cityH5892
• of these peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• which the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• thy Godאֱלֹהִים'ĕlôhîym · GodH430
• doth giveנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• an inheritanceנַחֲלָהnachălâh · inheritanceH5159
• thou shalt save aliveחָיָהchâyâh · to liveH2421
• nothing that breathethנְשָׁמָהneshâmâh · breathH5397

Cross-references for Deuteronomy 20:16

• Deuteronomy 7:1The Lord your God will now bring you into the land that will be your home. As you go in, he will chase out seven nations that now live there. Those nations are larger and more powerful than you are. They are the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites.
• Numbers 21:2The Israelites made this promise to the Lord: ‘If you put these people under our power, we will destroy their towns for you.’
• Numbers 33:52Then you must chase out all the people who live in that land. You must destroy all their idols that are made from wood or stone. Also destroy the altars where they worship their false gods.
• Joshua 6:17The city and everything that is in it belongs to the Lord, so destroy it all. Only the prostitute Rahab and all the people who are with her in her house will live. This is because she hid the two men that we sent.
• Joshua 9:24The Gibeonites said to Joshua, ‘We heard about the command that the Lord your God had given to his servant, Moses. We know that he told Moses to take the whole of our land for you to live in. We know that you must kill all the people who live there now. Because of that, we were very afraid that you would kill us. That is why we did what we did.
• Joshua 10:28That day, Joshua attacked Makkedah city. He took it, together with its king. He destroyed everyone who lived in it. He did not leave anyone alive. He did the same thing to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
• Joshua 11:11The Israelites killed everyone who lived there. Nothing in the city was left alive. They burned the city and destroyed it.
• Joshua 11:12Joshua took all these cities and he killed all their kings. He destroyed them all, as the Lord's servant Moses had told him to do.

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20:16

• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10-20Verses 10-20 Directions intended to prevent wanton destruction of life and property in sieges. Deuteronomy 20:16 Forbearance, however, was not to be shown toward the Canaanite nations, which were to be utterly exterminated (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-4). The command did not apply to beasts as well as men (compare Joshua 11:11, Joshua 11:14). Deuteronomy 20:19 The parenthesis may he more literally rendered “for man is a tree of the field,” i. e., has his life…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-2010-20. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it--An important principle is here introduced into the war law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (De 20:17, 18). But when on a just occasion, they went against other nations, they were first to make a proclamation…Read the comment

Topics related to Deuteronomy 20:16

• Massacre
• War

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Booty
• Canaanites
• Faint
• Fearful
• Accursed
• Atonement, Day of
• Criticism
• Deuteronomy

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings