Deuteronomy 2:34

2:34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them ¹  under divine judgment, ²  including even the women and children; we left no survivors.

Deuteronomy 20:13

20:13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you ³  and you must kill every single male by the sword.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that ⁴  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ⁵  to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them ⁶  – the Hittites, ⁷  Amorites, ⁸  Canaanites, ⁹  Perizzites, ¹⁰  Hivites, ¹¹  and Jebusites ¹²  – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship ¹³  their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.

Joshua 6:21

6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, ¹⁴  including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

Joshua 8:25

8:25 Twelve thousand men and women died ¹⁵  that day, including all the men of Ai.

Joshua 10:40

10:40 Joshua defeated the whole land, including the hill country, the Negev, the lowlands, ¹⁶  the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivors. He annihilated everything that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel had commanded.

Joshua 11:14

11:14 The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people ¹⁷  and allowed no one who breathed to live.

Joshua 11:1

Israel Defeats a Northern Coalition

11:1 When King Jabin of Hazor ¹⁸  heard the news, he organized a coalition, including ¹⁹  King Jobab of Madon, the king of Shimron, the king of Acshaph,

Joshua 15:3

15:3 extended ²⁰  south of the Scorpion Ascent, ²¹  crossed to Zin, went up from the south to Kadesh Barnea, crossed to Hezron, went up to Addar, and turned toward Karka.

Psalms 137:8-9

137:8 O daughter Babylon, soon to be devastated! ²² 

How blessed will be the one who repays you

for what you dished out to us! ²³ 

137:9 How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies

and smashes them on a rock! ²⁴ 

Jeremiah 48:10

48:10 A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work!

A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction! ²⁵ 

Ezekiel 9:6

9:6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

¹ tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.

² tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.

³ tn Heb “to your hands.”

⁴ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

⁵ tn Heb “any breath.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”

⁷ sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).

⁸ sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

⁹ sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.

¹⁰ sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

¹¹ sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).

¹² tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).

¹³ tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “all which was in the city.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “fell.”

¹⁶ tn Or “foothills”; Heb “the Shephelah.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword until they destroyed them.”

¹⁸ map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-D3; Map3-A2; Map4-C1.

¹⁹ tn Heb “he sent to.”

²⁰ tn Heb “went out.”

²¹ tn Or “the Ascent of Scorpions” (עַקְרַבִּים [’aqrabbim] means “scorpions” in Hebrew).

²² tn Heb “O devastated daughter of Babylon.” The psalmist dramatically anticipates Babylon’s demise.

²³ tn Heb “O the happiness of the one who repays you your wage which you paid to us.”

²⁴ sn For other references to the wholesale slaughter of babies in the context of ancient Near Eastern warfare, see 2 Kgs 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hos 13:16; Nah 3:10.

²⁵ tn Heb “who withholds his sword from bloodshed.” This verse is an editorial aside (or apostrophe) addressed to the Babylonian destroyers to be diligent in carrying out the work of the Lord in destroying Moab.