Bilangan 31:17

31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, ¹  and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. ² 

Ulangan 33:27

33:27 The everlasting God is a refuge,

and underneath you are his eternal arms; ³ 

he has driven out enemies before you,

and has said, “Destroy!”

Yosua 11:11

11:11 They annihilated everyone who lived there with the sword ⁴  – no one who breathed remained – and burned ⁵  Hazor.

[31:17]  ¹ tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”

[31:17]  sn The command in holy war to kill women and children seems in modern times a terrible thing to do (and it was), and something they ought not to have done. But this criticism fails to understand the situation in the ancient world. The entire life of the ancient world was tribal warfare. God’s judgment is poured out on whole groups of people who act with moral abandonment and in sinful pursuits. See E. J. Young, My Servants, the Prophets, 24; and J. W. Wenham, The Enigma of Evil.

[31:17]  ² tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[33:27]  ³ tn Heb “and from under, arms of perpetuity.” The words “you” and “his” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Some have perceived this line to be problematic and have offered alternative translations that differ significantly from the present translation: “He spread out the primeval tent; he extended the ancient canopy” (NAB); “He subdues the ancient gods, shatters the forces of old” (NRSV). These are based on alternate meanings or conjectural emendations rather than textual variants in the mss and versions.

[11:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they struck down all life which was in it with the edge of the sword, annihilating.”

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “burned with fire”; the words “with fire” are redundant in English and have not been included in the translation.