¹⁶ “But ^(A)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,

¹⁴ And all the ^(A)spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for themselves; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing.

^2 (A)So Israel made a vow to the Lord, and said, “If You will indeed deliver this people into my hand, then ^(B)I will utterly destroy their cities.” ³ And the Lord listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of that place was called ^[a]Hormah.

¹⁷ Now the city shall be ^(A)doomed by the Lord to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only ^(B)Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because ^(C)she hid the messengers that we sent. ¹⁸ And you, ^(D)by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, ^(E)and trouble it. ¹⁹ But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are ^[a]consecrated to the Lord; they ^[b]shall come into the treasury of the Lord.”

²⁰ So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that ^(F)the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. ²¹ And they ^(G)utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

A Chosen People^(A)

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to ^(B)possess, and has cast out many ^(C)nations before you, ^(D)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 you, ² and when the Lord your God delivers ^(E)them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. ^(F)You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. ^3 (G)Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. ⁴ For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; ^(H)so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.