Deuteronomy 20:17
New International Version
Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you.

New Living Translation
You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.

English Standard Version
but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded,

Berean Standard Bible
For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,

King James Bible
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

New King James Version
but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

New American Standard Bible
Instead, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

NASB 1995
“But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you,

NASB 1977
“But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you,

Legacy Standard Bible
But you shall devote them to destruction, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you,

Amplified Bible
But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

Christian Standard Bible
You must completely destroy them—the Hethite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite—as the LORD your God has commanded you,

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You must completely destroy them—the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite—as the LORD your God has commanded you,

American Standard Version
but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee;

Contemporary English Version
He has commanded you to completely wipe out the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

English Revised Version
but thou shalt utterly destroy them; the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
You must claim the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites for the LORD and completely destroy them, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

Good News Translation
Completely destroy all the people: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD ordered you to do.

International Standard Version
You must completely destroy the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, just as the LORD your God commanded you,

Majority Standard Bible
For you must devote them to complete destruction?the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites?as the LORD your God has commanded you,

NET Bible
Instead you must utterly annihilate them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites--just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

New Heart English Bible
but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hethite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the LORD your God has commanded you;

Webster's Bible Translation
But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

World English Bible
but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you;
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
for you certainly devote the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as your God YHWH has commanded you,

Young's Literal Translation
for thou dost certainly devote the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee,

Smith's Literal Translation
For destroying, thou shalt destroy them, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Jehovah thy God commanded thee:
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
But shalt kill them with the edge of the sword, to wit, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee:

Catholic Public Domain Version
Instead, you shall put them to death with the edge of the sword, specifically: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.

New American Bible
You must put them all under the ban—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—just as the LORD, your God, has commanded you,

New Revised Standard Version
You shall annihilate them—the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as the LORD your God has commanded,
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD your God has commanded you;

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
But certainly put them to the sword: the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Yebusites, as LORD JEHOVAH your God commanded you:
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee;

Brenton Septuagint Translation
but ye shall surely curse them, the Chettite, and the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Gergesite; as the Lord thy God commanded thee:

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Laws of Warfare
16However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. 17For you must devote them to complete destruction the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites— as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.…

Cross References
Joshua 6:21
With the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

1 Samuel 15:3
Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Exodus 23:23
For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will annihilate them.

Numbers 33:52
you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

Judges 1:28
When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.

1 Kings 9:20-21
As for all the people who remained of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (the people who were not Israelites)— / their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

Joshua 11:20
For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Exodus 34:11
Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Deuteronomy 7:1-2
When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to possess, and He drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you— / and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

Deuteronomy 7:16
You must destroy all the peoples the LORD your God will deliver to you. Do not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Deuteronomy 7:24
He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them.

Deuteronomy 9:5
It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving out these nations before you, to keep the promise He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Deuteronomy 12:2-3
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. / Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

2 Chronicles 8:7-8
As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (these people were not Israelites)— / their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.

Psalm 106:34-35
They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, / but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.


Treasury of Scripture

But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD your God has commanded you:

thou shalt

Isaiah 34:5,6
For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment…

Jeremiah 48:10
Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.

Jeremiah 50:35-40
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men

the Hittites

Deuteronomy 7:1
When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;

Jump to Previous
Amorite Amorites Canaanite Canaanites Commanded Completely Destroy Destruction Devote Hittite Hittites Hivite Hivites Jebusite Jebusites Jeb'usites Namely Orders Perizzite Perizzites Per'izzites Utterly
Jump to Next
Amorite Amorites Canaanite Canaanites Commanded Completely Destroy Destruction Devote Hittite Hittites Hivite Hivites Jebusite Jebusites Jeb'usites Namely Orders Perizzite Perizzites Per'izzites Utterly
Deuteronomy 20
1. The priest's exhortation to encourage the people to battle
5. The officers' proclamation of who are to be dismissed from the war
10. How to use the cities that accept or refuse the proclamation of peace
16. What cities must be devoted
19. Trees must not be destroyed in the siege














You must completely destroy them
This phrase underscores the divine command for total destruction, known in Hebrew as "herem," which means to devote something to God by completely destroying it. This was not merely a military strategy but a theological act of obedience. The command reflects the seriousness of maintaining the purity of Israel's worship and the danger of syncretism with pagan practices. Historically, this was a common practice in ancient Near Eastern warfare, where conquered peoples and their gods were often annihilated to demonstrate the supremacy of the victor's deity.

the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites
These groups represent the inhabitants of the Promised Land at the time of Israel's conquest. Each of these nations had their own distinct cultures and religious practices, often characterized by idolatry and immorality, which were abominable to the God of Israel. Archaeological evidence supports the existence of these peoples, with records of the Hittites, for example, found in ancient Anatolia. The Amorites were known as a powerful group in Mesopotamia, while the Canaanites were the primary inhabitants of the land. The Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites were smaller groups, with the Jebusites notably occupying Jerusalem. The command to destroy these nations was rooted in the need to prevent Israel from adopting their corrupt practices, which would lead them away from the covenant with Yahweh.

as the LORD your God has commanded you
This phrase emphasizes the divine authority behind the command. The use of "LORD" in all capitals signifies the translation of the Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the personal name of God revealed to Moses. It highlights the covenant relationship between God and Israel, where obedience to God's commands was paramount. The phrase "your God" personalizes this relationship, reminding Israel of their unique status as God's chosen people. The historical context of this command is rooted in the covenantal promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, where God promised to give their descendants the land of Canaan. The command to destroy these nations was not an act of arbitrary violence but a fulfillment of divine justice and a means to establish a holy nation set apart for God's purposes.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
You must completely destroy
הַחֲרֵ֣ם (ha·ḥă·rêm)
Verb - Hifil - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 2763: To seclude, to devote to religious uses, to be blunt as to the nose

them—
תַּחֲרִימֵ֗ם (ta·ḥă·rî·mêm)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 2763: To seclude, to devote to religious uses, to be blunt as to the nose

the Hittites
הַחִתִּ֤י (ha·ḥit·tî)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2850: Hittite -- a Chittite

and the Amorites,
וְהָאֱמֹרִי֙ (wə·hā·’ĕ·mō·rî)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 567: Amorites -- perhaps 'mountain dwellers', a Canaanite tribe

the Canaanites
הַכְּנַעֲנִ֣י (hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3669: Canaanite -- inhabitant of Canaan

and the Perizzites,
וְהַפְּרִזִּ֔י (wə·hap·pə·riz·zî)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 6522: Perizzite -- a people in the land of Canaan

the Hivites
הַחִוִּ֖י (ha·ḥiw·wî)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2340: Hivite -- a Chivvite

and the Jebusites—
וְהַיְבוּסִ֑י (wə·hay·ḇū·sî)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2983: Jebusite -- inhabitant of Jebus

as
כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר (ka·’ă·šer)
Preposition-k | Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the LORD
יְהוָ֥ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

your God
אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ (’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

has commanded you,
צִוְּךָ֖ (ṣiw·wə·ḵā)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person masculine singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6680: To lay charge (upon), give charge (to), command, order


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 20:17 But you shall utterly destroy them: (Deut. De Du)
Deuteronomy 20:16
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