Deuteronomy 25:17-19

Treatment of the Amalekites

25:17 Remember what the Amalekites ¹  did to you on your way from Egypt, 25:18 how they met you along the way and cut off all your stragglers in the rear of the march when you were exhausted and tired; they were unafraid of God. ²  25:19 So when the Lord your God gives you relief from all the enemies who surround you in the land he ³  is giving you as an inheritance, ⁴  you must wipe out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven ⁵  – do not forget! ⁶ 

[25:17]  ¹ tn Heb “what Amalek” (so NAB, NRSV). Here the individual ancestor, the namesake of the tribe, is cited as representative of the entire tribe at the time Israel was entering Canaan. Consistent with this, singular pronouns are used in v. 18 and the singular name appears again in v. 19. Since readers unfamiliar with the tribe of Amalekites might think this refers to an individual, the term “Amalekites” and the corresponding plural pronouns have been used throughout these verses (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[25:18]  ² sn See Exod 17:8-16.

[25:19]  ³ tn Heb “ the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[25:19]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “to possess it.”

[25:19]  ⁵ tn Or “from beneath the sky.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[25:19]  ⁶ sn This command is fulfilled in 1 Sam 15:1-33.