Cities to Destroy

¹² The Lord your God is giving you cities in which to live, and you might hear something about one of them. Someone might say ¹³ that ·evil people [worthless people; scoundrels] have moved in among you. And they might lead the people of that city away from God, saying, “Let’s go and ·worship [^Lserve] other gods.” (These are gods you have not known.) ¹⁴ Then you must ask about it, ·looking into [investigating] the matter and checking carefully whether it is true. If it is proved that a ·hateful [detestable; abhorrent; abominable] thing has happened among you, ¹⁵ you must ·kill [^Lstrike] with a sword everyone who lives in that city. ·Destroy the city completely and kill everyone in it [Devote that city to the Lord; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17], as well as the animals, with a sword. ¹⁶ Gather up ·everything those people owned [^Lall its plunder], and put it in the middle of the city square. Then completely burn the city and ·everything they owned [^Lall its plunder] as a burnt offering [Lev. 1:1–17] to the Lord your God. That city should never be rebuilt; let it be ·ruined [a ruin heap] forever. ¹⁷ Don’t ·keep for yourselves [^Lgrasp in your hand] any of the ·things found in that city [^Ldevoted things; 20:15–18; Josh. 6:17], so the Lord will not be angry anymore. He will give you ·mercy and feel sorry for you, and he [^L…mercy/compassion, and his mercy/compassion] will make your nation grow larger, as he ·promised [swore] to your ·ancestors [fathers]. ¹⁸ You will have ·obeyed [^Llistened to the voice of] the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am ·giving [commanding] to you today, and you will be doing what ·the Lord says is right [^Lis right/virtuous in the eyes of the Lord].