Leviticus 27:28-29

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord ¹  from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the Lord. 27:29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated ²  must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

Numbers 24:20

Balaam’s Final Prophecies

24:20 Then Balaam ³  looked on Amalek and delivered this oracle: ⁴ 

“Amalek was the first ⁵  of the nations,

but his end will be that he will perish.”

Deuteronomy 13:15-16

13:15 you must by all means ⁶  slaughter the inhabitants of that city with the sword; annihilate ⁷  with the sword everyone in it, as well as the livestock. 13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza ⁸  and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin ⁹  forever – it must never be rebuilt again.

Deuteronomy 20:16-18

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that ¹⁰  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ¹¹  to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them ¹²  – the Hittites, ¹³  Amorites, ¹⁴  Canaanites, ¹⁵  Perizzites, ¹⁶  Hivites, ¹⁷  and Jebusites ¹⁸  – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship ¹⁹  their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.

Joshua 6:17-21

6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ²⁰  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ²¹  we sent. 6:18 But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. ²²  6:19 All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. ²³  They must go into the Lord’s treasury.”

6:20 The rams’ horns sounded ²⁴  and when the army ²⁵  heard the signal, ²⁶  they gave a loud battle cry. ²⁷  The wall collapsed ²⁸  and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ²⁹  6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, ³⁰  including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

¹ tn Heb “Surely, any permanently dedicated [thing] which a man shall permanently dedicate to the Lord.” The Hebrew term חֵרֶם (kherem) refers to things that are devoted permanently to the Lord (see the note on v. 21 above).

² tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”

³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Balaam) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “and he lifted up his oracle and said.” So also in vv. 21, 23.

⁵ sn This probably means that it held first place, or it thought that it was “the first of the nations.” It was not the first, either in order or greatness.

⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “by all means.” Cf. KJV, NASB “surely”; NIV “certainly.”

⁷ tn Or “put under divine judgment. The Hebrew word (חֵרֶם, kherem) refers to placing persons or things under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction.Though primarily applied against the heathen, this severe judgment could also fall upon unrepentant Israelites (cf. the story of Achan in Josh 7). See also the note on the phrase “divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.

⁸ tn Heb “street.”

⁹ tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).

¹⁰ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

¹¹ tn Heb “any breath.”

¹² tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”

¹³ 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.).

¹⁴ sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

¹⁷ 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).

¹⁸ 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).

¹⁹ tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”

²⁰ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

²¹ tn Heb “messengers.”

²² tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the Lord] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to the Lord] and make the camp of Israel set apart [to destruction by the Lord] and bring trouble on it.”

²³ tn Heb “it is holy to the Lord.”

²⁴ tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.

²⁵ tn Heb “the people.”

²⁶ tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”

²⁷ tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”

²⁸ tn Heb “fell in its place.”

²⁹ tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”

³⁰ tn Heb “all which was in the city.”