Deuteronomy 20:13
in Deuteronomy 20When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
KJV
And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
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This verse in Deuteronomy 20
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
When you approach a city to fight against it
on Deuteronomy 20:10-15
The order is peace first and siege second, and a city that accepts becomes forced labour, living under Israel rather than beside it. Verse 15 limits the paragraph to cities “that are far away from you”, and Adam Clarke reports that interpreters have long divided over how wide the offer runs. Moses had already done this at 2:26, sending words of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon.
This site's exposition
has delivered it into your hand
The victory is credited to the LORD before any sentence is carried out. The sentence falls on the males alone, and Numbers 31:7 records every male killed in the war against Midian, fought as the LORD had commanded Moses. John Gill sends the reader to that chapter.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Note, Those enterprises which we undertake by a divine warrant, and prosecute by divine direction, we may expect to succeed in. If we take God's method, we shall have his blessing. They are ordered, in honour to the public justice, to put all the soldiers to the sword, for them I understand by every male (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Eaten of it - Hebrew. made it common, namely, for the use of himself and family and friends, which it was not, 'till the fifth year. Make captains - Or rather, as the Hebrew hath it, they shall set or place the captains of the armies in the head or front of the people under their charge, that they may conduct them, and by their example encourage their soldiers.
And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands,....
We must be for peace, whoever are for war. If the offers of peace were not accepted, then they must proceed to push on the war. And let those to whom God offers peace know that if they reject the offer, and take not the benefit of it within the time limited, judgment will rejoice against mercy in the execution as much as now mercy rejoices against judgment in the reprieve.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it--An important principle is here introduced into the war law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (De 20:17, 18).
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
והטף AND THE LITTLE ONES [… SHALT THOU TAKE UNTO THYSELF] — the male children, too. But how am I to understand (v. 13) “and thou shalt smite every male thereof”? As referring to the male adults (Sifrei Devarim:7).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּנְתָנָ֛הּ | unetanah | and he will give it | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| יְהוָ֥ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ | ʾeloheikha | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
| בְּיָדֶ֑ךָ | beyadekha | in hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וְהִכִּיתָ֥ | vehikita | and you will strike down | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זְכוּרָ֖הּ | zekhurah | male its | H2138 → | |
| לְפִי־ | lefi- | to [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| חָֽרֶב׃ | charev | [the] sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
וּנְתָנָ֛הּand he will give it
unetanahH5414 →2011 times
יְהוָ֥הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָGod your
ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times
בְּיָדֶ֑ךָin hand your
beyadekhaH3027 →1618 times
וְהִכִּיתָ֥and you will strike down
vehikitaH5221 →499 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
זְכוּרָ֖הּmale its
zekhurahH2138 →
לְפִי־to [the] mouth of
lefi-H6310 →498 times
חָֽרֶב׃[the] sword
charevH2719 →413 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 110:1The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
it leads to
- Hebrews 10:12–13
But when this Priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God.
- 1 Corinthians 15:25
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
- Luke 20:42–43
For David himself says in the book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand
- Hebrews 1:13
Yet to which of the angels did God ever say: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet”?
- Mark 12:35–37
While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, He asked, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?
- Hebrews 10:12–13
Through
Luke 19:27And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
it leads to
- Psalms 21:8–9
Your hand will apprehend all Your enemies; Your right hand will seize those who hate You.
- Luke 19:14
But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’
- Luke 21:22
For these are the days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written.
- Psalms 21:8–9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.