Bilangan 31:15-17

31:15 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? ¹  31:16 Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord! 31:17 Now therefore kill every boy, ²  and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man. ³ 

Ulangan 2:34

2:34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them ⁴  under divine judgment, ⁵  including even the women and children; we left no survivors.

Ulangan 3:6

3:6 We put all of these under divine judgment ⁶  just as we had done to King Sihon of Heshbon – every occupied city, ⁷  including women and children.

Yosua 6:17-21

6:17 The city and all that is in it must be set apart for the Lord, ⁸  except for Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house, because she hid the spies ⁹  we sent. 6:18 But be careful when you are setting apart the riches for the Lord. If you take any of it, you will make the Israelite camp subject to annihilation and cause a disaster. ¹⁰  6:19 All the silver and gold, as well as bronze and iron items, belong to the Lord. ¹¹  They must go into the Lord’s treasury.”

6:20 The rams’ horns sounded ¹²  and when the army ¹³  heard the signal, ¹⁴  they gave a loud battle cry. ¹⁵  The wall collapsed ¹⁶  and the warriors charged straight ahead into the city and captured it. ¹⁷  6:21 They annihilated with the sword everything that breathed in the city, ¹⁸  including men and women, young and old, as well as cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

Yosua 6:1

6:1 Now Jericho ¹⁹  was shut tightly ²⁰  because of the Israelites. No one was allowed to leave or enter. ²¹ 

1 Samuel 15:3

15:3 So go now and strike down the Amalekites. Destroy everything that they have. Don’t spare ²²  them. Put them to death – man, woman, child, infant, ox, sheep, camel, and donkey alike.’”

1 Samuel 15:2

15:2 Here is what the Lord of hosts says: ‘I carefully observed how the Amalekites opposed ²³  Israel along the way when Israel ²⁴  came up from Egypt.

1 Samuel 1:17

1:17 Eli replied, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request that you have asked of him.”

[31:15]  ¹ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of the word חָיָה (khayah, “to live”). In the Piel stem it must here mean “preserve alive,” or “allow to live,” rather than make alive.

[31:17]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “every woman who has known [a] man by lying with a man.”

[2:34]  ⁴ tn Heb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.

[2:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276-77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28-77.

[2:34]  sn Divine judgment refers to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in his omniscience, he knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant.

[3:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “we put them under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). See note at 2:34.

[3:6]  sn The divine curse. See note on this phrase in Deut 2:34.

[3:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “city of men.”

[6:17]  ⁸ tn Or “dedicated to the Lord.”

[6:17]  sn To make the city set apart for the Lord would involve annihilating all the people and animals and placing its riches in the Lord’s treasury (vv. 19, 21, 24).

[6:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “messengers.”

[6:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Only you keep [away] from what is set apart [to the Lord] so that you might not, as you are setting [it] apart, take some of what is set apart [to the Lord] and make the camp of Israel set apart [to destruction by the Lord] and bring trouble on it.”

[6:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it is holy to the Lord.”

[6:20]  ¹² tc Heb “and the people shouted and they blew the rams’ horns.” The initial statement (“and the people shouted”) seems premature, since the verse goes on to explain that the battle cry followed the blowing of the horns. The statement has probably been accidentally duplicated from what follows. It is omitted in the LXX.

[6:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “the people.”

[6:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the sound of the horn.”

[6:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they shouted with a loud shout.”

[6:20]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fell in its place.”

[6:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the people went up into the city, each one straight ahead, and they captured the city.”

[6:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all which was in the city.”

[6:1]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B2; Map6 E1; Map7 E1; Map8 E3; Map10 A2; Map11 A1.

[6:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “was shutting and shut up.” HALOT 2:743 paraphrases, “blocking [any way of access] and blocked [against any who would leave].”

[6:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “there was no one going out and there was no one coming in.”

[15:3]  ²² tn Or perhaps “don’t take pity on” (cf. CEV).

[15:2]  ²³ tn Heb “what Amalek did to Israel, how he placed against him.”

[15:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.