1 Samuel 15:3

15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ¹  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 15:9

15:9 However, Saul and the army spared Agag, along with the best of the flock, the cattle, the fatlings, ²  and the lambs, as well as everything else that was of value. ³  They were not willing to slaughter them. But they did slaughter everything that was despised ⁴  and worthless.

Joshua 6:17

6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ⁵  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ⁶  we sent.

Joshua 6:21

6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, ⁷  including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

Hosea 10:14

Bethel Will Be Destroyed Like Beth Arbel

10:14 The roar of battle will rise against your people;

all your fortresses will be devastated,

just as Shalman devastated ⁸  Beth Arbel on the day of battle,

when mothers were dashed to the ground with their children.

James 2:13

2:13 For judgment is merciless for the one who has shown no mercy. But mercy triumphs over ⁹  judgment.

¹ tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

² tn The Hebrew text is difficult here. We should probably read וְהַמַּשְׂמַנִּים (vÿhammasmannim, “the fat ones”) rather than the MT וְהַמִּשְׂנִים (vÿhammisnim, “the second ones”). However, if the MT is retained, the sense may be as the Jewish commentator Kimchi supposed: the second-born young, thought to be better than the firstlings. (For discussion see S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text and the Topography of the Books of Samuel, 123-24.)

³ tn Heb “good.”

⁴ tc The MT has here the very odd form נְמִבְזָה (nÿmivzah), but this is apparently due to a scribal error. The translation follows instead the Niphal participle נִבְזָה (nivzah).

⁵ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

⁶ tn Heb “messengers.”

⁷ tn Heb “all which was in the city.”

⁸ tn Heb “as the devastation of Shalman.” The genitive noun שַׁלְמַן (shalman, “Shalman”) functions as a subjective genitive: “as Shalman devastated [Beth Arbel].”

⁹ tn Grk “boasts against, exults over,” in victory.