Ulangan 20:16

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that ¹  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ²  to survive.

Ulangan 32:9

32:9 For the Lord’s allotment is his people,

Jacob is his special possession. ³ 

[20:16]  ¹ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

[20:16]  ² tn Heb “any breath.”

[32:9]  ³ tc Heb “the portion of his inheritance.” The LXX and Smr add “Israel” and BHS suggests the reconstruction: “The Lord’s allotment is Jacob, the portion of his inheritance is Israel” (cf. NAB). While providing good parallelism, it destroys a fine chiastic structure: “allotment” (a), “his people” (b), “Jacob (b’), and “inheritance” (a’).