The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — Deuteronomy 13:12

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Deuteronomy 13:12–18 — Idolatrous Cities to Be Destroyed. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

The clause "which the Lord thy God hath given thee to dwell in" significantly reminds them that the real ownership of their dwellings rested in the Lord (compare Leviticus 25:23 ), and that they, the mere tenants, must not allow His property to become a center of rebellion against His just authority.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Certain men, the children of Belial—lawless, designing demagogues (Jud 19:22; 1Sa 1:16; 25:25), who abused their influence to withdraw the inhabitants of the city to idol-worship.

JFB comment the report; the seducers it names are the subject of v. 13.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The only case of this kind is the case of Gibeah. We may fairly assume the abominations done there to have been connected with idolatry, from the allusions in Hosea 9:9 ; Hosea 10:9 . But the outrage rather than the idolatry seems to have excited the indignation of Israel (see Judges 20, 21).

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

As the words define not the place where the report has been heard, but the subject of the report, the guilty city itself; therefore either saying has been carelessly misplaced and should follow hear (tell) (cp. Joshua 22:11 ) or more probably the writer has designedly but awkwardly brought up the object of the law from the subordinate to the principal clause so as to make it prominent from the first

The Cambridge editors are explaining the same Hebrew inversion Keil notes — why "in one of thy cities" cannot mean the place of hearing; it is the awkwardly fronted object of the report.

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If, regarding one of the cities the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, you hear it said

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî- bə·’a·ḥaṯ ‘ā·re·ḵā ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lə·ḵā lā·še·ḇeṯ šām ṯiš·ma‘ lê·mōr

Word by word12 · parsed

כִּֽי־kî-IfH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

The conditional kî, “if / when” — opening the third and gravest case in the chapter (after the false prophet, vv. 1–5, and the seducing intimate, vv. 6–11): now a whole city.

בְּאַחַ֣תbə·’a·ḥaṯregarding oneH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iPreposition-bNumberfeminine singular construct

עָרֶ֗יךָ‘ā·re·ḵāof the citiesH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

“Your cities” — the unit of judiciary in Deuteronomy. As the Cambridge editors note, these towns are repeatedly treated as the social units that bear corporate legal responsibility (Deut 19, 21), here for apostasy.

אֲשֶׁר֩’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֨הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֜יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

The participle nōṯēn, “is giving” — the land is being handed over as gift in the very clause that anticipates its defilement. Barnes presses the point: the real owner is the LORD; Israel are tenants who must not let His property become a center of rebellion.

לְךָ֛lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

לָשֶׁ֥בֶתlā·še·ḇeṯto inhabitH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgePreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

“To dwell there” (lāšeḇeṯ) — Gill observes this law concerns only cities Israel has actually come to inhabit, not those still merely promised or still held by Canaanites.

שָׁ֖םšām. . .H8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

תִשְׁמַ֞עṯiš·ma‘you hearH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

“You hear (it) said” — the trigger is a report, hearsay, which v. 14 will require to be tested before any blood is shed. The Pulpit Commentary weighs whether šāmaʻ bə- means “overhear” or, as here, “hear concerning.”

לֵאמֹֽר׃lê·mōrit saidH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“If, regarding one of your-cities — which YHWH your-God is-giving to-you to-dwell there — you-hear (it) said —”

Where the English smooths the original

כִּֽי־ Hebrew opens with the bare conditional particle כִּי (kî), “if / when” — and then leaves the sentence hanging, throwing the door open to the report that follows in v. 13. The BSB’s smooth “If, regarding one of the cities” supplies a structure the abrupt Hebrew does not.
בְּאַחַ֣ת The phrase is literally “in one of your cities” (בְּאַחַת, preposition bə- + “one”). As Keil notes, šāmaʻ bə- “of one” is impossible Hebrew; the object of the report has been pulled forward out of the subordinate clause and made prominent — an inversion the English flattens into “regarding one of the cities.”
לָשֶׁ֥בֶת The infinitive לָשֶׁבֶת (from yāšaḇ, “to sit / dwell”) — “to dwell there” — is the same root that names the city’s yōšəḇê, its “inhabitants,” in vv. 13 and 15. The gift of a place to dwell becomes the very place that must be emptied of dwellers.
תִשְׁמַ֞ע תִשְׁמַע (tišmaʻ) is the same verb šāmaʻ, “to hear / heed / obey,” that closes the whole unit in v. 18 (“when you obey the voice of the LORD”). Here it is mere rumor reaching the ear; there it is covenant obedience — the same word bracketing the law.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

It signifies properly persons without yoke, vile and wretched miscreants, lawless and rebellious, that will suffer no restraint, that neither fear God nor reverence man. From among you, i.e. from your church and religion. It notes a separation or departure from them, not in place

Poole adds that the separation is "in heart, doctrine, and worship," citing 1 John 2:19.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

This is the first place where the expression “sons of Belial” occurs, and Judges 19:22 is the second. It is generally explained by modern scholars as “worthlessness.” Rashi curiously makes it “destroyers of the yoke” (of Jehovah).

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

The verb here is the same as that rendered by "thrust," in vers. 5 and 10. It conveys the idea of drawing away with some degree of force, not mere easy seduction, but impulsion by strong persuasion.

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that wicked men have arisen from among you and have led the people of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” (which you have not known),

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ḇə·lî·ya·‘al ’ă·nā·šîm bə·nê- yā·ṣə·’ū miq·qir·be·ḵā yō·šə·ḇê ‘î·rām way·yad·dî·ḥū ’eṯ- lê·mōr nê·lə·ḵāh wə·na·‘aḇ·ḏāh ’ă·ḥê·rîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm ’ă·šer lō- yə·ḏa‘·tem

Word by word17 · parsed

בְלִיַּ֙עַל֙ḇə·lî·ya·‘althat wickedH1100

√ bᵉlîyaʻal — without profit, worthlessnessNounmasculine singular

bəlîyaʻal, “worthlessness” — Ellicott records Rashi’s striking reading, “destroyers of the yoke” (of Jehovah); Benson and Poole settle on “persons without yoke, lawless and rebellious, that neither fear God nor reverence man.”

אֲנָשִׁ֤ים’ă·nā·šîmmenH376

√ ʼîysh — a man as an individual or a male personNounmasculine plural

בְּנֵֽי־bə·nê-. . .H1121

√ bên — a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etcNounmasculine plural construct

יָצְא֞וּyā·ṣə·’ūhave arisenH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalPerfectthird person common plural

“Have gone out” — Keil deflates any over-reading: the verb “merely signifies to rise up, to go forth.” The menace is in the next clause, not this verb.

מִקִּרְבֶּ֔ךָmiq·qir·be·ḵāfrom among youH7130

√ qereb — properly, the nearest part, iPreposition-mNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

miqqirbeḵā, “from your midst” — the corruption is homegrown, risen from inside the covenant people, not imported by an outside enemy. This is what makes it abomination rather than mere warfare.

יֹשְׁבֵ֥יyō·šə·ḇêand have led the peopleH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

עִירָ֖ם‘î·rāmof their cityH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)Nounfeminine singular constructthird person masculine plural

וַיַּדִּ֛יחוּway·yad·dî·ḥūastrayH5080

√ nâdach — to push offConjunctive wawVerbHifilConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine plural

nādaḥ, “thrust aside” — the keyword of the whole chapter, binding the false prophet (v. 5), the intimate (v. 10), and now the city-seducers under one verb of violent enticement away from the LORD.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

לֵאמֹ֑רlê·mōrsayingH559

√ ʼâmar — to say (used with great latitude)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

נֵלְכָ֗הnê·lə·ḵāhLet us goH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)VerbQalImperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural

וְנַעַבְדָ֛הwə·na·‘aḇ·ḏāhand serveH5647

√ ʻâbad — to work (in any sense)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive imperfect Cohortativefirst person common plural

אֲחֵרִ֖ים’ă·ḥê·rîmotherH312

√ ʼachêr — properly, hinderAdjectivemasculine plural

אֱלֹהִ֥ים’ĕ·lō·hîmgodsH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural

“Other gods, which you have not known” — the lure is to deities with no history with Israel, no exodus, no covenant; the very novelty that should have damned the offer is its appeal.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerwhichH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

לֹא־lō-you have notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

יְדַעְתֶּֽם׃yə·ḏa‘·temknownH3045

√ yâdaʻ — to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing)VerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine plural

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“— worthless men, sons-of-Belial, have-gone-out from-your-midst, and-they-have-thrust-aside the-dwellers-of their-city, saying, ‘Let-us-go and-let-us-serve other gods,’ which you-have-not-known —”

Where the English smooths the original

בְלִיַּ֙עַל֙ The Hebrew leads with the noun בְלִיַּעַל (bəlîyaʻal), “worthlessness” — most likely bəlî (“without”) + yaʻal (“profit / worth”). “Sons of Belial” reads in the AV like a proper name; the Pulpit Commentary and Barnes both insist the literal force is “sons of worthlessness.” It is the first occurrence of the phrase in Scripture.
יָצְא֞וּ יָצְאוּ (yāṣəʼû), “have gone out,” combined with “from your midst,” carries the suggestion of apostasy, not geography. Keil reduces it to “merely to rise up, to go forth”; Poole sharpens it: a departure “not in place… but in heart, doctrine, and worship” — the same idiom John uses, “they went out from us.”
וַיַּדִּ֛יחוּ The verb וַיַּדִּיחוּ (Hiphil of nādaḥ, “to push / drive away”) is rendered mildly as “led astray.” It is the same verb used of the seducers in vv. 5 and 10 (“thrust”); the Pulpit Commentary notes it means “drawing away with some degree of force… not mere easy seduction, but impulsion by strong persuasion.”
אֲחֵרִ֖ים אֲחֵרִים (ʼăḥêrîm), “other,” is from a root meaning “hinder / behind” — gods that come after, in the train of Yahweh, usurpers. The clause “which you have not known” is, as Gill notes, not the seducers’ words but the LORD’s own parenthetical verdict on the emptiness of those gods.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

Then shalt thou inquire—that is, the magistrate, to whom it officially belonged to make the necessary investigation. In the event of the report proving true, the most summary proceedings were to be commenced against the apostate inhabitants. The law in this chapter has been represented as stern and sanguinary, but it was in accordance with the national constitution of Israel. God being their King, idolatry was treason, and a city turned to idols put itself into a state, and incurred the punishment, of rebellion.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The Jewish writers say, the defection of a city was to be tried by the great sanhedrim. If it appeared that they were thrust away to idolatry, they were to send two learned men to admonish them. If they repented, all was well; if not, all Israel was to go up and execute this sentence.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

there is an inversion in the sentence, "if thou hear, that in one of thy cities...worthless men have risen up, and led the inhabitants astray to serve strange gods." לאמר introduces the substance of what is heard, which follows in Deuteronomy 13:14 .

Keil's note on the case spans vv. 13–14; this excerpt is from the 13:14 source page.

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then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·ḏā·raš·tā wə·ḥå̄·qar·tå̄ wə·šā·’al·tā hê·ṭêḇ wə·hin·nêh ’ĕ·meṯ nā·ḵō·wn had·dā·ḇār haz·zōṯ hat·tō·w·‘ê·ḇāh ne·‘eś·ṯāh bə·qir·be·ḵā

Word by word12 · parsed

וְדָרַשְׁתָּ֧wə·ḏā·raš·tāthen you must inquireH1875

√ dârash — properly, to tread or frequentConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

dāraš, “inquire” — Benson and JFB agree this addresses the magistrate, to whom the investigation officially belonged. Jewish tradition (Gill, via Maimonides) routed such a case to the great Sanhedrin of seventy-one at Jerusalem.

וְחָקַרְתָּ֧wə·ḥå̄·qar·tå̄investigateH2713

√ châqar — properly, to penetrateConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

ḥāqar, “investigate” — “to penetrate.” The Cambridge editors note the verb occurs in this legal sense in Deuteronomy only here; it is the language of probing a case to its depth (cf. Job 29:16).

וְשָׁאַלְתָּ֖wə·šā·’al·tāand interrogateH7592

√ shâʼal — to inquireConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

הֵיטֵ֑בhê·ṭêḇthoroughlyH3190

√ yâṭab — to be (causative) make well, literally (sound, beautiful) or figuratively (happy, successful, right)VerbHifilInfinitive absolute

וְהִנֵּ֤הwə·hin·nêhAnd ifH2009

√ hinnêh — lo!Conjunctive wawInterjection

אֱמֶת֙’ĕ·meṯit is established with certaintyH571

√ ʼemeth — stabilityNounfeminine singular

“(If it is) truth” — the whole apparatus of mercy and judgment hangs on this clause. Idolatry is treason in a theocracy (JFB: “God being their King, idolatry was treason”), yet even treason must be proven before the sword is drawn.

נָכ֣וֹןnā·ḵō·wn. . .H3559

√ kûwn — properly, to be erect (iVerbNifalParticiplemasculine singular

הַדָּבָ֔רhad·dā·ḇār. . .H1697

√ dâbâr — a wordArticleNounmasculine singular

הַזֹּ֖אתhaz·zōṯthat thisH2063

√ zôʼth — this (often used adverb)ArticlePronounfeminine singular

הַתּוֹעֵבָ֥הhat·tō·w·‘ê·ḇāhabominationH8441

√ tôwʻêbah — properly, something disgusting (morally), iArticleNounfeminine singular

“This abomination” — the same word stands over the Canaanite practices Israel was to drive out (Deut 7:25; 18:9–12). To commit it is to become, in guilt, a Canaanite city — and to invite the Canaanite sentence.

נֶעֶשְׂתָ֛הne·‘eś·ṯāhhas been committedH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbNifalPerfectthird person feminine singular

בְּקִרְבֶּֽךָ׃bə·qir·be·ḵāamong youH7130

√ qereb — properly, the nearest part, iPreposition-bNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“— then-you-shall-inquire and-investigate and-interrogate thoroughly; and-behold, (if it is) truth, the-matter is-established, this abomination has-been-done in-your-midst —”

Where the English smooths the original

וְדָרַשְׁתָּ֧ Three near-synonymous verbs are piled up — וְדָרַשְׁתָּ (dāraš, “seek / inquire”), ḥāqar (“investigate, penetrate”), šāʼal (“ask”). The BSB keeps all three, but the heaping itself is the point: the Hebrew legislates an exhaustive, three-fold inquest before any sentence — no execution on rumor.
הֵיטֵ֑ב הֵיטֵב (hêṭêḇ) is an infinitive absolute functioning adverbially — “well / thoroughly,” as Keil notes (cf. Deut 9:21). It governs all three verbs at once: not merely inquire, but inquire to the bottom.
אֱמֶת֙ אֱמֶת (ʼĕmeṯ), “truth,” paired with nāḵôn (Niphal of kûn, “be established, firm”) — the BSB’s “established with certainty” fuses the noun and the participle. The standard is forensic stability: the thing must be firm, founded, not merely alleged (cf. Deut 17:4).
הַתּוֹעֵבָ֥ה הַתּוֹעֵבָה (hattôʻêḇāh), “the abomination” — a near-technical term for what is morally and cultically loathsome to the LORD. The definite article makes it the abomination: idolatry by covenant people is the abomination par excellence.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The inhabitants — Namely, all that were guilty, not the innocent part, such as disowned this apostacy, who doubtless by choice, at least upon warning, would come out of so wicked a place.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Destroying it utterly; the very same punishment which was inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but fit and just that God should equal them in punishment.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The ban was to be executed in all its severity as upon an idolatrous city: man and beast were to be put to death without reserves; and its booty, i.e., whatever was to be found in it as booty-all material goods, therefore - were to be heaped together in the market, and burned along with the city itself.

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you must surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword. Devote to destruction all its people and livestock.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

hak·kêh ṯak·keh ’eṯ- yō·šə·ḇê ha·hū hā·‘îr lə·p̄î- ḥā·reḇ ha·ḥă·rêm lə·p̄î- ḥā·reḇ ’ō·ṯāh wə·’eṯ- kāl- ’ă·šer- bāh wə·’eṯ- bə·hem·tāh

Word by word18 · parsed

הַכֵּ֣הhak·kêhyou must surely putH5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilInfinitive absolute

The emphatic infinitive + verb: “striking you shall strike.” Gill stresses the executor is not one man nor the Sanhedrin alone but “the whole nation” mustered against the apostate city — a corporate act of covenant fidelity.

תַכֶּ֗הṯak·keh. . .H5221

√ nâkâh — to strike (lightly or severely, literally or figuratively)VerbHifilImperfectsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

יֹֽשְׁבֵ֛יyō·šə·ḇêthe inhabitantsH3427

√ yâshab — properly, to sit down (specifically as judgeVerbQalParticiplemasculine plural construct

yōšəḇê, “the dwellers” — again the root yāšaḇ from v. 12’s “to dwell.” Poole and Benson both restrict the sentence to “all that are guilty,” the innocent who disowned the apostasy being presumed to have already fled the cursed place.

הַהוּאha·hūof thatH1931

√ hûwʼ — he (she or it)ArticlePronounthird person feminine singular

הָעִ֥ירhā·‘îrcityH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine singular

לְפִי־lə·p̄î-vvvH6310

√ peh — the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

“To the mouth of the sword” — the vivid Hebrew metaphor of the sword’s devouring mouth, a stock phrase for total slaughter (cf. Gen 34:26).

חָ֑רֶבḥā·reḇto the swordH2719

√ chereb — droughtNounfeminine singular

הַחֲרֵ֨םha·ḥă·rêmDevote to destructionH2763

√ châram — to secludeVerbHifilImperativemasculine singular

ḥāram, “devote to destruction” — the ḥerem. Benson: this is “the very same punishment which was inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites”; having matched them in sin, the city is matched in doom.

לְפִי־lə·p̄î-H6310

√ peh — the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech)Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct

חָֽרֶב׃ḥā·reḇH2719

√ chereb — droughtNounfeminine singular

אֹתָ֧הּ’ō·ṯāhH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object markerthird person feminine singular

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

כָּל־kāl-all [its people]H3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

בָּ֛הּbāh

Prepositionthird person feminine singular

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

בְּהֶמְתָּ֖הּbə·hem·tāhand livestockH929

√ bᵉhêmâh — properly, a dumb beastNounfeminine singular constructthird person feminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“— you-shall-surely-strike the-dwellers-of that city to-the-mouth-of the-sword; devote-it-to-destruction, it and-all that-is-in-it, and-its-livestock, to-the-mouth-of the-sword.”

Where the English smooths the original

הַכֵּ֣ה The infinitive absolute הַכֵּה stands before the finite verb takkeh (both from nākāh, “to strike”) — a Hebrew doubling for emphasis that the BSB renders “you must surely put… to the sword.” The construction is the language of certain, unsparing execution.
לְפִי־ Literally “to the פִּי (peh, ‘mouth’) of the sword.” The Pulpit Commentary catches the buried image: the sword devouring like a ravenous beast, “biting and devouring” — “the edge of the sword” is a polished idiom that loses the open mouth swallowing the city.
הַחֲרֵ֨ם הַחֲרֵם (haḥărêm, Hiphil imperative of ḥāram) is the technical verb of the ḥerem — to “devote to destruction,” to place under the irrevocable ban. The Cambridge editors note this is “the hardest form of the ḥerem,” here pronounced not on a pagan enemy but on an apostate Israelite town.
בְּהֶמְתָּ֖הּ בְּהֶמְתָּהּ (bəhemtāh, from bəhêmâh, “beast”), “its livestock,” extends the ban even to the animals — the same totality the Canaanite ḥerem bore (cf. the cattle spared and condemned at Jericho/Ai, Josh 6–8). Keil notes “the cattle thereof” is still governed by the opening “thou shalt smite,” so the whole living town, human and beast, falls under one sentence. Held honestly: the Cambridge editors flag that this clause is absent from the LXX and may be “a later addition to the law” — a candid text-critical caveat the BSB's Hebrew base does not show, and which does not soften the totality where the clause stands.

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

all the spoil [booty] thereof as a whole offering unto Jehovah thy God ; it was to be wholly devoted to God, and as such to be consumed by fire. "It was a destruction, and not properly an offering.

The Pulpit Commentary is here quoting Knobel on the choice of kālîl over ʻôlāh and ḥaṭṭāʼṯ.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

it shall be an heap for ever; it shall not be built again—Its ruins shall be a permanent monument of the divine justice, and a beacon for the warning and terror of posterity.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

Signifying that no idolatry is so detestable, nor more grievously to be punished, than of those who once professed God.

Geneva marginal gloss (note i) on the burning of the city.

source ↗

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.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·’eṯ- tiq·bōṣ kāl- šə·lā·lāh ’el- tō·wḵ rə·ḥō·ḇāh wə·śā·rap̄·tā ḇā·’êš ’eṯ- hā·‘îr wə·’eṯ- kāl- šə·lā·lāh kā·lîl Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā wə·hā·yə·ṯāh têl ‘ō·w·lām lō ṯib·bā·neh ‘ō·wḏ

Word by word23 · parsed

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-AndH853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

תִּקְבֹּץ֮tiq·bōṣyou are to gatherH6908

√ qâbats — to grasp, iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

שְׁלָלָ֗הּšə·lā·lāhits plunderH7998

√ shâlâl — bootyNounmasculine singular constructthird person feminine singular

אֶל־’el-inH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

תּ֣וֹךְtō·wḵthe middleH8432

√ tâvek — a bisection, iNounmasculine singular construct

tôḵ + rəḥōḇ, “the midst of the open square” — Gill records the rabbinic ruling that if a town had no square, one was made; the heaping must happen in the public center, where all could see the judgment.

רְחֹבָהּ֒rə·ḥō·ḇāhof the public squareH7339

√ rᵉchôb — a width, iNounmasculine singular constructthird person feminine singular

וְשָׂרַפְתָּ֨wə·śā·rap̄·tāand completely burnH8313

√ sâraph — to be (causatively, set) on fireConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

בָאֵ֜שׁḇā·’êš. . .H784

√ ʼêsh — fire (literally or figuratively)Preposition-b, ArticleNouncommon singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הָעִ֤ירhā·‘îrthe cityH5892

√ ʻîyr — a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the widest sense (even of a mere encampment or post)ArticleNounfeminine singular

וְאֶת־wə·’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Conjunctive wawDirect object marker

כָּל־kāl-and allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

שְׁלָלָהּ֙šə·lā·lāhits plunderH7998

√ shâlâl — bootyNounmasculine singular constructthird person feminine singular

כָּלִ֔ילkā·lîlas a whole burnt offeringH3632

√ kâlîyl — completeNounmasculine singular

kālîl, “whole-offering” — the theological hinge of the unit. The Pulpit Commentary quotes Knobel: “It was a destruction, and not properly an offering. Hence the author selects neither ʻôlāh nor ḥaṭṭāʼṯ, but kālîl, whole offering.” The city is not punished merely but sanctified to the LORD by being consumed.

לַיהוָ֖הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

וְהָיְתָה֙wə·hā·yə·ṯāh[The city] must remainH1961

√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person feminine singular

תֵּ֣לtêla mound of ruinsH8510

√ têl — a moundNounmasculine singular construct

têl ʻôlām, “a mound forever” — the same Judges 20:40 image the Cambridge editors invoke: “the whole offering of the city went up to heaven.” Smoke as worship; ruin as ascent.

עוֹלָ֔ם‘ō·w·lāmforeverH5769

√ ʻôwlâm — properly, concealed, iNounmasculine singular

לֹ֥אlōneverH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תִבָּנֶ֖הṯib·bā·nehto be rebuiltH1129

√ bânâh — to build (literally and figuratively)VerbNifalImperfectthird person feminine singular

“It shall not be rebuilt” — yet Gill notes the rabbis allowed the ground to be made into gardens and orchards: a waste as to city, not a sterile curse on the soil itself.

עֽוֹד׃‘ō·wḏ. . .H5750

√ ʻôwd — properly, iteration or continuanceAdverb

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-all its-spoil you-shall-gather into the-midst-of its-open-square, and-you-shall-burn with-fire the-city and-all its-spoil — a-whole-offering to YHWH your-God; and-it-shall-become a-mound forever, it-shall-not be-rebuilt again.”

Where the English smooths the original

רְחֹבָהּ֒ רְחֹבָהּ (rəḥōḇāh) is the broad open place, not a “street.” The Cambridge editors explain: ancient Canaanite streets were narrow, but every town had a broad place just inside the gate where courts and consultations were held. The plunder is heaped in the very square where the city did its public business.
כָּלִ֔יל כָּלִיל (kālîl), “whole-offering / holocaust,” is the decisive word the BSB renders “as a whole burnt offering.” Barnes and the Pulpit Commentary prefer “as a whole offering unto Jehovah.” The destruction is reframed as sacrifice: the city ascends to God entire, like the rare kālîl offering wholly consumed (Lev 6:22).
תֵּ֣ל תֵּל (têl) — the “mound / tell.” The Cambridge editors note the same Arabic tell applied to the mounds on which living cities stand, “their dead selves.” A vanishingly rare word (only five verses), it makes this the archetypal verse of the ruined-forever city — its very rarity strengthens the verbal links out to Joshua and Jeremiah.
תִבָּנֶ֖ה תִבָּנֶה (tibbāneh, Niphal of bānāh, “to build”) with the negative — “it shall not be rebuilt.” The verb of building is denied forever (ʻôlām). The town is unmade as a permanent monument; JFB: “a permanent monument of the divine justice, and a beacon for the warning and terror of posterity.”

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

We seem to hear an echo of this verse in the close of the story of Achan ( Joshua 7:26 ): “And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones, and they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger”

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

that the Lord might turn from His wrath and have compassion upon the nation, i.e., not punish the sin of one town upon the nation as a whole, but have mercy upon it and multiply it, - make up the diminution consequent upon the destruction of the inhabitants of that town, and so fulfil the promise given to the fathers of the multiplication of their seed.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

there shall cleave naught of the cursed thing to thine hand—No spoil shall be taken from a city thus solemnly devoted to destruction. Every living creature must be put to the sword—everything belonging to it reduced to ashes—that nothing but its infamy may remain.

source ↗

Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hands, so that the LORD will turn from His fierce anger, grant you mercy, show you compassion, and multiply you as He swore to your fathers,

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·lō- mə·’ū·māh ha·ḥê·rem yiḏ·baq bə·yā·ḏə·ḵā lə·ma·‘an Yah·weh yā·šūḇ min- mê·ḥă·rō·wn ’ap·pōw wə·nā·ṯan- lə·ḵā ra·ḥă·mîm wə·ri·ḥam·ḵā wə·hir·be·ḵā ka·’ă·šer niš·ba‘ la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵā

Word by word19 · parsed

וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-NothingH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

מְא֖וּמָהmə·’ū·māh. . .H3972

√ mᵉʼûwmâh — properly, a speck or point, iNounmasculine singular

הַחֵ֑רֶםha·ḥê·remdevoted to destructionH2764

√ chêrem — physical (as shutting in) a net (either literally or figuratively)ArticleNounmasculine singular

ḥerem, “the devoted thing” — Geneva and Gill both cross-reference Joshua 7: the spoil is cursed, and the man who makes it his own brings the curse upon himself, as Achan did when Jericho fell.

יִדְבַּ֧קyiḏ·baqshall clingH1692

√ dâbaq — properly, to impinge, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

בְּיָדְךָ֛bə·yā·ḏə·ḵāto your handsH3027

√ yâd — a hand (the open one (indicating power, means, direction, etcPreposition-bNounfeminine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

לְמַעַן֩lə·ma·‘anso thatH4616

√ maʻan — properly, heed, iConjunction

יְהוָ֜הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יָשׁ֨וּבyā·šūḇwill turnH7725

√ shûwb — to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yāšûḇ, “may turn” — the astonishing logic of the verse: the nation’s rigor in judgment is the very thing that averts judgment from the nation. Ellicott hears the echo of Achan’s story: “So the LORD turned from the fierceness of his anger” (Josh 7:26).

מִן־min-fromH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

מֵחֲר֣וֹןmê·ḥă·rō·wnHis fierce angerH2740

√ chârôwn — a burning of angerPreposition-mNounmasculine singular construct

אַפּ֗וֹ’ap·pōw. . .H639

√ ʼaph — properly, the nose or nostrilNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

וְנָֽתַן־wə·nā·ṯan-grantH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singular

לְךָ֤lə·ḵāyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

רַחֲמִים֙ra·ḥă·mîmmercyH7356

√ racham — compassion (in the plural)Nounmasculine plural

raḥămîm, “compassion” — Keil: God will “not punish the sin of one town upon the nation as a whole, but have mercy upon it and multiply it.” Severity toward the apostate city is the channel of mercy toward Israel.

וְרִֽחַמְךָ֣wə·ri·ḥam·ḵāshow you compassionH7355

√ râcham — to fondleConjunctive wawVerbPielConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singularsecond person masculine singular

וְהִרְבֶּ֔ךָwə·hir·be·ḵāand multiply youH7235

√ râbâh — to increase (in whatever respect)Conjunctive wawVerbHifilConjunctive perfectthird person masculine singularsecond person masculine singular

hirbeḵā, “multiply you” — the promise sworn to the patriarchs (Gen 22:17). Poole: “so thou shalt have no loss of thy numbers by cutting off so many people.” God makes up the demographic cost of obedience from His own covenant oath.

כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רka·’ă·šerasH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPreposition-kPronounrelative

נִשְׁבַּ֖עniš·ba‘He sworeH7650

√ shâbaʻ — to seven oneself, iVerbNifalPerfectthird person masculine singular

לַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃la·’ă·ḇō·ṯe·ḵāto your fathersH1

√ ʼâb — father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote applicationPreposition-lNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“And-not shall-cling to your-hand anything of-the-devoted-thing; so-that YHWH may-turn from the-heat-of His-anger, and-give to-you compassion, and-have-mercy-on-you, and-multiply-you, as He-swore to-your-fathers —”

Where the English smooths the original

הַחֵ֑רֶם הַחֵרֶם (haḥêrem) — the noun ḥerem, the “devoted thing,” cognate with the verb ḥāram in v. 15. The Cambridge editors note that both the banning and the thing banned were called ḥerem. To pocket any of it is to make oneself ḥerem — this is precisely Achan’s sin (Josh 7).
יִדְבַּ֧ק יִדְבַּק (yiḏbaq, from dāḇaq, “to cling, cleave”) — “let nothing of the ban cling to your hand.” The word ordinarily describes covenant devotion (cleaving to the LORD, Deut 10:20); here it is inverted — nothing accursed may cleave instead. The BSB’s “shall cling” keeps the image.
יָשׁ֨וּב יָשׁוּב (yāšûḇ, from šûḇ, “to turn / return”) — the LORD “turns” from His burning anger. The same verb that elsewhere calls Israel to repent (turn back) is here used of God turning from wrath: obedience to the ban moves the divine disposition itself.
רַחֲמִים֙ רַחֲמִים (raḥămîm), “compassion / tender mercies,” is from the root for womb (reḥem) — visceral, motherly mercy. Paired immediately with the verb riḥamḵā (rāḥam, “to have compassion”), the Hebrew sounds the same root twice; the BSB splits it into “grant you mercy” and “show you compassion.”

The Voices✦ 3 public domain

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God,.... Not only in this case, but in all others: to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day: the repetition of which he made unto them, and enjoined the observance of them in the name of the Lord

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Jehovah would do this if Israel hearkened to His voice, to do what was right in His eyes. In what way the appropriation of property laid under the ban brought the wrath of God upon the whole congregation, is shown by the example of Achan ( Joshua 7 ).

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Matthew HenryConcise Commentary on the Whole Bible1706

May the Lord write his law and truth in our hearts, there set up his throne, and shed abroad his love!

From Henry's summary of the whole pericope (13:12–18).

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because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all His commandments I am giving you today and doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî ṯiš·ma‘ bə·qō·wl Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā liš·mōr ’eṯ- kāl- miṣ·wō·ṯāw ’ă·šer ’ā·nō·ḵî mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵā hay·yō·wm la·‘ă·śō·wṯ hay·yā·šār bə·‘ê·nê Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā

Word by word18 · parsed

כִּ֣יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

kî, “because” — the Cambridge editors flag this closing condition as “the usual condition attached to promises in Deut.: possibly editorial.” It seals the mercy of v. 17 to a single ground: obedience.

תִשְׁמַ֗עṯiš·ma‘you obeyH8085

√ shâmaʻ — to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etcVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

tišmaʻ bəqôl, “obey the voice” — Gill widens it past this one case: “Not only in this case, but in all others.” The law of the apostate city becomes a window onto the whole shape of covenant fidelity.

בְּקוֹל֙bə·qō·wl. . .H6963

√ qôwl — a voice or soundPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

יְהוָ֣הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

לִשְׁמֹר֙liš·mōrkeepingH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

כָּל־kāl-allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

מִצְוֺתָ֔יוmiṣ·wō·ṯāwHis commandmentsH4687

√ mitsvâh — a command, whether human or divine (collectively, the Law)Nounfeminine plural constructthird person masculine singular

אֲשֶׁ֛ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

אָנֹכִ֥י’ā·nō·ḵîIH595

√ ʼânôkîy — IPronounfirst person common singular

מְצַוְּךָ֖mə·ṣaw·wə·ḵāam giving you todayH6680

√ tsâvâh — (intensively) to constitute, enjoinVerbPielParticiplemasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

הַיּ֑וֹםhay·yō·wm. . .H3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)ArticleNounmasculine singular

לַעֲשׂוֹת֙la·‘ă·śō·wṯ[and] doingH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationPreposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

laʻăśôṯ, “to do” — the same verb ʻāśāh used in v. 14 for the abomination “committed.” The unit turns on two doings: the abomination done in the city, and the right done in the eyes of the LORD.

הַיָּשָׁ֔רhay·yā·šārwhat is rightH3477

√ yâshâr — straight (literally or figuratively)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

hayyāšār, “what is right” — measured not by Israel’s judgment but “in the eyes of the LORD”: the external, objective standard that the whole inquest of v. 14 exists to honor.

בְּעֵינֵ֖יbə·‘ê·nêin the eyesH5869

√ ʻayin — an eye (literally or figuratively)Preposition-bNouncdc

יְהוָ֥הYah·wehof the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃ס’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

“— because you-will-obey the-voice-of YHWH your-God, to-keep all His-commandments which I am-commanding-you today, to-do what-is-right in-the-eyes-of YHWH your-God.”

Where the English smooths the original

כִּ֣י כִּי (kî), “because / when,” opens the verse exactly as it opened v. 12 — bracketing the whole law between two kî clauses. The unit begins “if you hear a report of idolatry” and ends “because you obey the LORD’s voice”: the same particle, inverted from rumor to obedience.
תִשְׁמַ֗ע תִשְׁמַע (tišmaʻ) is again šāmaʻ, “to hear,” the very verb of v. 12 (“you hear it said”). Here it is “hear the voice of the LORD” — i.e., obey. The same hearing that picks up a report of treason is, rightly directed, the hearing of covenant loyalty. The BSB’s “obey” captures the imperatival sense the bare “hear” carries with bəqôl.
הַיָּשָׁ֔ר הַיָּשָׁר (hayyāšār, H3477), “the right / the straight,” from yāšar, “to be straight, level.” “The right in the eyes of the LORD” is the load-bearing Deuteronomic standard (Deut 6:18; 12:25, 28), and it is the exact phrase the book of Judges inverts as its refrain of anarchy — every man did “what was right in his own eyes” (Judg 17:6; 21:25). The same eyes that, rightly directed, must see straight by God's measure are the eyes the apostate city blinded. The Cambridge editors note the Samaritan and LXX append “and good,” widening the bare “right” toward the fuller Deuteronomic pair “right and good.”

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. The report — and the restraint — 12–14

The third and gravest case of the chapter opens not with a sword but with a rumor. After the false prophet (vv. 1–5) and the seducing intimate (vv. 6–11), now a whole city is said to have apostatized — and the very first word of God's response is not “destroy” but “inquire.” The Hebrew piles three verbs of investigation one on another — dāraš, ḥāqar, šāʼal — and crowns them with the adverb hêṭêḇ, “thoroughly” (Keil notes it functions exactly as in Deut 9:21). Jamieson, Fausset & Brown locate the duty precisely: it falls to “the magistrate, to whom it officially belonged to make the necessary investigation,” and they name the constitutional logic without flinching — “God being their King, idolatry was treason, and a city turned to idols put itself into a state, and incurred the punishment, of rebellion.” Benson preserves the rabbinic procedure: a defecting city was tried by “the great sanhedrim,” and only after two learned men were sent to admonish it, and it refused to repent, did “all Israel… go up and execute this sentence.” The structure is the point. A theocracy could treat apostasy as capital treason and still forbid the sword until the report was proven ʼĕmeṯ, “truth,” and the matter nāḵôn, “established.” The seducers themselves are named with the chapter's keyword: the bənê bəlîyaʻal, “sons of worthlessness” — its first occurrence in Scripture, as Ellicott observes, who also records Rashi's arresting gloss, “destroyers of the yoke” (of Jehovah). And they have, says the text, gone out from your midst — a phrase Poole reads as apostasy of the heart, “not in place… but in heart, doctrine, and worship, as the same phrase is used, 1Jo 2:19.”

ii. The whole-offering of a city — 15–16

When the abomination is proven, the sentence is the ḥerem in its hardest form — and here, as the Cambridge editors stress, pronounced not on a pagan enemy but on “an apostate city of Israel.” The town is struck “to the mouth of the sword” (lə-p̄î ḥereḇ) — the Pulpit Commentary recovers the buried image of a sword that devours “like a ravenous beast.” Poole sees the justice in it: this is “the very same punishment which was inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but fit and just that God should equal them in punishment.” Then comes the verse's astonishing theological pivot, carried by a single rare word. The spoil is heaped in the broad place inside the gate and the whole city burned kālîl — “a whole offering,” a holocaust. The Pulpit Commentary, quoting Knobel, catches the deliberate vocabulary: “the author selects neither ʻôlāh nor ḥaṭṭāʼṯ, but kālîl, whole, whole offering.” Keil draws out the sense: the city “was to be sanctified to Him entirely by being destroyed.” The judgment is reframed as sacrifice; the smoke of the ruined town ascends to God as worship — the same image the Cambridge editors find in Judges 20:40, where “the whole offering of the city went up to heaven.” And what remains is a têl, a mound, “forever” — a vanishingly rare Hebrew word that fixes this as the archetypal verse of the city ruined and never rebuilt. JFB: “Its ruins shall be a permanent monument of the divine justice, and a beacon for the warning and terror of posterity.”

iii. The ban, the wrath, and the mercy — 17

One clause guards the whole sentence from becoming plunder: “nothing of the ḥerem shall cling to your hand.” The verb is dāḇaq, “cleave” — the very word for covenant devotion to the LORD (Deut 10:20), here inverted: let nothing accursed cleave to you instead. JFB states the rigor plainly — “No spoil shall be taken… everything belonging to it reduced to ashes — that nothing but its infamy may remain.” Ellicott hears the whole verse anticipated in a single later story: “We seem to hear an echo of this verse in the close of the story of Achan (Joshua 7:26)… ‘So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger.’” That is the verse's stunning logic, and Keil names it: the people's rigor in judgment is the very thing that turns God's wrath away from the people — “not to punish the sin of one town upon the nation as a whole, but have mercy upon it and multiply it.” The judgment-clause flowers, without a seam, into the patriarchal promise: God will give raḥămîm — compassion welling from the root for a mother's womb — and multiply Israel “as He swore to your fathers.” Poole sees the pastoral comfort: “so thou shalt have no loss of thy numbers by cutting off so many people.” The cost of obedience is repaid from the covenant oath.

iv. The seam that closes the law: obedience — 18

The unit ends where a reader least expects a law about a burned city to end — in the language of the heart's loyalty. “Because you obey the voice of the LORD your God…” The closing kî answers the opening kî of v. 12: the law that began “if you hear a report of idolatry” ends “because you hear the voice of the LORD” — the same verb šāmaʻ, the same hearing, redeemed from rumor into obedience. Gill widens the application past the single case: “Not only in this case, but in all others.” And the whole grim apparatus resolves into a standard — “to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD” — measured not by Israel's judgment but by God's. Matthew Henry, surveying the whole pericope, lifts the severity into Christian self-examination: “Let us then fear the spiritual idolatry of covetousness, and the love of worldly pleasure”; and he ends, as the law itself ends, on the heart: “May the Lord write his law and truth in our hearts, there set up his throne, and shed abroad his love!”

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, this hard law yields a reading offered to be tested, not trusted. First: idolatry is treason against the true King, and the gravest where it is most privileged. The Geneva margin says it exactly — “no idolatry is so detestable, nor more grievously to be punished, than of those who once professed God.” The apostate Israelite city is sentenced as a Canaanite city precisely because it had known better; light refused becomes guilt compounded (cf. Luke 12:47–48). Second: even capital judgment is fenced by due process. The threefold inquest of v. 14 — and the proven standard of truth established — is the Bible's own guard against blood shed on rumor; the same Berean instinct that “searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so” (Acts 17:11) is written into the law that authorizes the sword. Third, and most striking: the destruction is named a whole-offering. The unit will not let the burning be mere violence; the rare word kālîl makes it sacrifice — sin so devoted to God that it ascends to Him in smoke. Here the New Covenant reader must hold two things at once and let Scripture adjudicate: the ḥerem belonged to the theocracy and is not handed to the Church (our weapons are “not of the flesh,” 2 Cor 10:4; the tares grow till the harvest, Matt 13:30) — and yet the wrath against idolatry it dramatizes is not abolished but borne, the whole-offering of the city foreshadowing the one whole offering that turns God's fierce anger away (Heb 10:10). The mercy clause of v. 17 — “that the LORD may turn from the heat of His anger” — is the law confessing that judgment is never God's last word toward His people.

The smoke of the devoted city rises as worship — the law's own confession that sin, fully judged, must somewhere ascend to God as a whole-offering.

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

“A mound forever” → the ruined cities of the conquest verbal / quotation — confirmed

The decree that the apostate town “shall become a têl (mound) forever, never to be rebuilt” (v. 16) is enacted, in nearly the same words, on the Canaanite cities Joshua burns: Ai is made “a permanent heap of ruins” and Hazor is burned “with fire.” The bond is not merely thematic — it runs on the rarest of shared Hebrew words. têl, “mound,” occurs in only five verses in the whole Hebrew Bible; that this idolatrous Israelite city receives the identical sentence as the doomed Canaanite cities is the verbal proof of Poole's reading: having made itself “equal in sin,” Israel's apostate town is made equal in doom.

Joshua 8:28 · Joshua 11:13

basis: rare shared lexeme H8510 têl (only 5 verses in the whole HB), with H8313 sâraph (burn) and H5769 ʻôwlâm (forever) — Verifier-confirmed verbal link Deut 13:16 ↔ Josh 8:28 and ↔ Josh 11:13

The town turned to a tell — and the prophets' reversal verbal / quotation — confirmed

Jeremiah inherits the very vocabulary of this law and turns it both ways. Against Ammon he pronounces the curse of Deuteronomy 13 — Rabbah “shall become a desolate têl (mound),” burned “with fire” (Jer 49:2) — but to restored Israel he reverses it: “the city shall be rebuilt on its têl” (Jer 30:18), the same rare word, now a foundation for mercy rather than a monument to wrath. The shared têl (5 verses only) and ʼêš (fire) make the curse-form a deliberate echo; the restoration text shows the prophet consciously bending the law's terminal word toward hope.

Jeremiah 49:2 · Jeremiah 30:18

basis: rare shared lexeme H8510 têl (5 vv) + H784 ʼêsh (Jer 49:2) and H8510 têl + H7355 râcham, H1129 bânâh (Jer 30:18) — Verifier-confirmed verbal links from the thread_candidates

The whole-offering: a city burned kālîl structural / thematic — confirmed

The word that reframes the city's destruction as sacrifice — kālîl, “whole-offering” (v. 16) — is a deliberately rare cultic term (15 verses). It is the priestly whole-offering wholly consumed (Lev 6:22), and Judges 20:40 uses it of exactly this kind of burning city, where “the whole offering of the city went up to heaven.” The Pulpit Commentary (quoting Knobel) and Keil both insist the legislator chose this word over ʻôlāh and ḥaṭṭāʼṯ: the ruin is not waste but consecration — the town sanctified to the LORD by being destroyed.

Leviticus 6:22 · Judges 20:40

basis: shared lexeme H3632 kâlîyl (15 vv) — Verifier-confirmed; Lev 6:22 also shares H5769 ʻôwlâm, Judg 20:40 shares H5892 ʻîyr (city). Tiered structural, not verbal: a shared technical cultic vocabulary across distinct contexts, not a quotation

The ban kept and broken: Achan and the turning of wrath structural / thematic — confirmed

The command that “nothing of the ḥerem (devoted thing) shall cling to your hand” (v. 17), so that “the LORD may turn from the heat of His anger,” is the exact law Achan violates and Joshua 7 dramatizes. Ellicott and Keil both name the link: when Achan takes of the ban, wrath falls on all Israel until it is purged — and then, in the very idiom of this verse, “the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger” (Josh 7:26). The shared ḥerem (H2764, 31 vv) ties the law to its narrative test case; the shared ḥārôn / ʼaph (“heat of anger”) and šûḇ (“turn”) tie this verse to Josh 7:26's resolution.

Joshua 7:11 · Joshua 7:26

basis: shared lexeme H2764 chêrem (31 vv) for Josh 7:11; H2740 chârôwn + H639 ʼaph + H7725 shûwb for Josh 7:26 — Verifier-confirmed. Tiered structural/thematic: a law and its narrative test case sharing the ban-vocabulary, named explicitly by Ellicott and Keil

“Gone out from among us” → apostasy in the New Covenant structural / thematic — confirmed

Poole, Gill, and the Cambridge editors all read the seducers' “going out from your midst” (v. 13) not as a change of place but of allegiance — and all three reach for the same New Testament verse: “They went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:19). The motif of the apostate who arises from within the covenant community, not the enemy without, runs from this law to John's antichrists. Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek ↔ Hebrew), so it can carry no shared Strong's number — the Verifier confirms no shared original-language lexeme. The connection is a thematic/structural resonance argued by the ancient commentators, not a verbal quotation, and is tiered accordingly.

1 John 2:19

basis: cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's lexeme is possible and the Verifier confirms none — so this is NOT a verbal link. It is a shared structural motif (apostasy arising from <em>within</em> the covenant community, not the enemy without), drawn explicitly by Poole, Gill, and the Cambridge Bible; widely-held, not novel. Tiered thematic rather than typological because it is a recurring pattern, not a type/antitype fulfillment

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The whole-offering that turns away wrath widely-held

The unit's strangest word is its deepest pointer. The destroyed city is a kālîl, a “whole-offering” (v. 16) — sin so devoted to God that it ascends entire in fire — and the immediate purpose (v. 17) is “that the LORD may turn from the heat of His anger.” The law thus binds two things the gospel will bind forever: a whole offering, wholly consumed, and the turning away of divine wrath. The shadow asks for a substance the shadow cannot supply — for here it is the sinner's city that burns. The New Testament names the substance: “we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Heb 10:10), the one whole-offering that does what every kālîl only foreshadowed — turns the fierce anger of God away, not from a guiltless town, but from the guilty.

Hebrews 10:10 · Romans 3:25

The curse borne, that the people might be multiplied widely-held

The logic of v. 17 is the logic of the cross in miniature: judgment falls fully on the devoted thing, “nothing of the ḥerem clinging to the hand,” so that God may “show you compassion and multiply you as He swore to your fathers.” The destruction of the one is the mercy and increase of the many. This is the very pattern Paul sees fulfilled when “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13) — becoming, as it were, the devoted thing — “in order that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles” (Gal 3:14), which is precisely the patriarchal multiplication this verse invokes. Held honestly: this is a typological reading, drawing the figure of the substitutionary ḥerem forward to Christ; it is ancient and widely held, but it is a figural reading and is marked as such.

Galatians 3:13 · Galatians 3:14

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (CC0). The named voices are public-domain commentary, quoted verbatim and attributed in place — Ellicott, Benson, Henry, Barnes, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Poole, Gill, the Geneva Study Bible, the Cambridge Bible, the Pulpit Commentary, and Keil & Delitzsch. Hebrew transliterations, parsings, the literal renderings built up from the original, and the “where the English smooths the Hebrew” notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against BDB/HALOT and a standard grammar.

On the threads: the strongest links in this unit ride on one vanishingly rare word — têl, “mound,” which occurs in only five verses of the whole Hebrew Bible. Its presence in Joshua 8:28, 11:13, and Jeremiah 49:2 / 30:18 is what lets those connections be tiered verbal rather than merely thematic; the Verifier computed each basis (see badges). The kālîl (“whole-offering”) and ḥerem (“ban”) links are real but tiered structural — shared technical vocabulary across different contexts, not quotation. The one New Testament link in the threads (1 John 2:19) is cross-Testament and so cannot carry a shared Strong's number; the Verifier confirms none, and it is tiered structural / thematic — a recurring motif of apostasy from within the covenant community, drawn by Poole, Gill, and the Cambridge editors, not a verbal citation (and not a type/antitype, so not tiered typological). This unit contains no Joshua 1:5, so the standing Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 flag does not apply here. Both readings of Christ are marked as figural and widely-held, offered to be weighed against the text. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)