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 20:16-18

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that ³  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ⁴  to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them ⁵  – the Hittites, ⁶  Amorites, ⁷  Canaanites, ⁸  Perizzites, ⁹  Hivites, ¹⁰  and Jebusites ¹¹  – just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship ¹²  their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.

Leviticus 27:28-29

Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord

27:28 “‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the Lord ¹³  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 ¹⁴  must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death.

Numbers 21:2

21:2 So Israel made a vow ¹⁵  to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed deliver ¹⁶  this people into our ¹⁷  hand, then we will utterly destroy ¹⁸  their cities.”

Joshua 11:14

11:14 The Israelites plundered all the goods of these cities and the cattle, but they totally destroyed all the people ¹⁹  and allowed no one who breathed to live.

[2:34]  ¹ tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.

[2:34]  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.

[20:16]  ³ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

[20:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “any breath.”

[20:17]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”

[20:17]  ⁶ 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.).

[20:17]  ⁷ sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.

[20:17]  ⁸ 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.

[20:17]  ⁹ sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).

[20:17]  ¹⁰ 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).

[20:17]  ¹¹ 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).

[20:18]  ¹² tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”

[27:28]  ¹³ 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).

[27:29]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “permanently dedicated from among men.”

[21:2]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative with the verb: They vowed a vow. The Israelites were therefore determined with God’s help to defeat Arad.

[21:2]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew text has the infinitive absolute and the imperfect tense of נָתַן (natan) to stress the point – if you will surely/indeed give.”

[21:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my.”

[21:2]  ¹⁸ tn On the surface this does not sound like much of a vow. But the key is in the use of the verb for “utterly destroy” – חָרַם (kharam). Whatever was put to this “ban” or “devotion” belonged to God, either for his use, or for destruction. The oath was in fact saying that they would take nothing from this for themselves. It would simply be the removal of what was alien to the faith, or to God’s program.

[11:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “but all the people they struck down with the edge of the sword until they destroyed them.”