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Deuteronomy 13:16

in Deuteronomy 13

And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, unto Jehovah thy God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

KJV

And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the spoil thereof every whit, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again.

This verse in Deuteronomy 13

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword

on Deuteronomy 13:15-16

The sentence is the ban that 7:2 and 20:16-17 lay on the cities of Canaan, now turned on an Israelite city. Clarke gives the older commentators' reason, that one city left in idolatry would carry the rest. The historical books record no city condemned under this statute.

This site's exposition

never to be rebuilt

All the plunder lies in the public square, in full view. Clarke draws the consequence at verse 17: with no plunder to gain, war on such a city could be waged only to obey the LORD. The city must stay a ruin, and Joshua 6:26 curses whoever rebuilds Jericho.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And thou shall gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof,.... All the wealth and substance of the inhabitants, their household goods, shop goods, merchandise, utensils in trade and business, and everything that can be named.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

Certain men, the children of Belial--lawless, designing demagogues (Jud 19:22; 25:25), who abused their influence to withdraw the inhabitants of the city to idol-worship.
Every whit, for the Lord thy God - Some prefer: “as a whole offering to the Lord thy God.”

The words behind it

23 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • שְׁלָלָ֗הּplunder its

    shelalahH7998 →73 times

  • תִּקְבֹּץ֮you will gather

    tikbotzH6908 →127 times

  • אֶל־into

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • תּ֣וֹךְ[the] middle of

    tokhH8432 →418 times

  • רְחֹבָהּ֒open place its

    rechovahH7339 →

  • וְשָׂרַפְתָּ֨and you will burn

    vesaraftaH8313 →117 times

  • בָאֵ֜שׁwith <the> fire

    vaeshH784 →378 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • הָעִ֤ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וְאֶת־and <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • שְׁלָלָהּ֙plunder its

    shelalahH7998 →73 times

  • כָּלִ֔ילa whole offering

    kalilH3632 →

  • לַיהוָ֖הto Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָGod your

    ʾeloheikhaH430 →2601 times

  • וְהָיְתָה֙and it will be

    vehayetahH1961 →3559 times

  • תֵּ֣לa mound of

    telH8510 →

  • עוֹלָ֔םperpetuity

    olamH5769 →438 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִבָּנֶ֖הit will be built

    tibanehH1129 →376 times

  • עֽוֹד׃again

    odH5750 →490 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Isaiah 17:1

    This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 25:2

      Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Amos 1:3–5

      This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they threshed Gilead with sledges of iron.

    • Zechariah 9:1

      This is the burden of the word of the LORD against the land of Hadrach and Damascus its resting place—for the eyes of men and of all the tribes of Israel are upon the…

  • Through

    Isaiah 25:2

    Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 17:1

      This is the burden against Damascus: “Behold, Damascus is no longer a city; it has become a heap of ruins.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 49:2

    Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites. It will become a heap of ruins, and its villages will be burned.…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 4:19

      My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm…

    • Ezekiel 21:20

      Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.

  • Through

    Joshua 6:24

    Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 8:28

      So Joshua burned Ai and made it a permanent heap of ruins, a desolation to this day.

    • Revelation 17:16

      And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.