Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Deuteronomy 20:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Deuteronomy 20:13 orders every male killed after the city's defeat.
Read It With
- Deuteronomy 20:10–18
Read Deuteronomy 20:13 with 20:10–18. It orders every male killed after the city's defeat. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: Distant cities first receive peace terms that entail forced labor; resistance brings killing of males and seizure of women, children, animals, and spoil, while named Canaanite cities receive total herem to prevent rival worship.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Distant Siege and Canaanite Herem advances Deuteronomy's movement from remembered wilderness failure through covenant instruction, land-facing law, public choice, leadership succession, witness song, blessing, and Moses' death. Its particular movement is this: Distant cities first receive peace terms that entail forced labor; resistance brings killing of males and seizure of women, children, animals, and spoil, while named Canaanite cities receive total herem to prevent rival worship. At 20:13, the verse orders every male killed after the city's defeat.
Read Deuteronomy 20:10–18 together
Why these verses belong together: The law distinguishes forced-labor surrender, killing and spoil, and total Canaanite destruction.
Verse 10. 10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
Verse 11. 11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
Verse 12. 12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
Verse 13. 13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
Verse 14. 14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
Verse 15. 15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
Verse 16. 16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
Verse 17. 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
Verse 18. 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
Follow the Context
- Distant war distinguishes surrender, forced labor, killing, and spoil.
- Canaanite war removes the surrender option and targets every breathing life.
Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation
“devoted to destruction”
In plain language: The term carries lethal totality in Deuteronomy's Canaanite war law and must not be softened or modernized.
The term carries lethal totality in Deuteronomy's Canaanite war law and must not be softened or modernized. Within Deuteronomy 20:10–18, it helps interpret this verse's role: orders every male killed after the city's defeat.
Why it matters: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Distant Siege and Canaanite Herem.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableWhat This Verse Is Not Saying
This verse does not create a free-standing rule. At Deuteronomy 20:13, its distinct contribution is orders every male killed after the city's defeat; This law does not authorize slavery, sexual captivity, civilian killing, genocide, ethnic cleansing, nationalism, or calling a modern people Canaanite.
What Remains True
Because Deuteronomy 20:13 orders every male killed after the city's defeat, its proportionate enduring truth is this: War texts require honest naming of civilians, captives, children, labor, land, propaganda, and the limits placed even within the ancient command. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: This law does not authorize slavery, sexual captivity, civilian killing, genocide, ethnic cleansing, nationalism, or calling a modern people Canaanite.
How It Can Shape Life
- Verse role: Deuteronomy 20:13 orders every male killed after the city's defeat. Contextual meaning: Distant cities first receive peace terms that entail forced labor; resistance brings killing of males and seizure of women, children, animals, and spoil, while named Canaanite cities receive total herem to prevent rival worship. Proportionate enduring truth: War texts require honest naming of civilians, captives, children, labor, land, propaganda, and the limits placed even within the ancient command. This unit also keeps the following boundary explicit: This law does not authorize slavery, sexual captivity, civilian killing, genocide, ethnic cleansing, nationalism, or calling a modern people Canaanite. Application: Name tribute, forced labor, male killing, captive women and children, and herem exactly, then refuse every modern claim that God authorizes conquest, civilian targeting, or ethnic cleansing.
Teach It Back
Explain why Deuteronomy 20:13 orders every male killed after the city's defeat. Use 20:10–18, state one Hebrew, textual, legal, historical, or compositional limit, identify one person or group at risk, and reject one conclusion the verse does not authorize.
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Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Deuteronomy 20:10–18 — Distant Siege and Canaanite HeremSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? probable
Where care is needed
Deuteronomy 20:13 remains within this thought-unit limit: Interpreters disagree about the composition, date, Mosaic presentation, final-form role, legal relationship, rhetoric, history, and reception of “Distant Siege and Canaanite Herem.” Confidence is strongest in the received unit's movement summarized here; historical and source-critical reconstructions remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Deuteronomy 20:10–18, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 20:10–18
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Deuteronomy with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, legal, poetic, measure, name, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Deuteronomy PDF, complete PDF pp. 1–111, translation and translator notes attached to 20:10–18
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Deuteronomy Part 1: Law, Reform, and Historical Setting
Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Concise critical framing of Deuteronomy's law collection, historical setting, relationship to other Torah laws, centralization, and moral tensions.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Deuteronomy Part 1,' complete two-page PDF and linked lesson sections on law, legal collections, reform, centralization, and ethics, applied to Deuteronomy 20:10–18
Open source ↗modern scholarly handbook chapter abstract
The Place of Deuteronomy in the Formation of the Pentateuch
Konrad Schmid
The Oxford Handbook of the Pentateuch, Oxford University Press, 2020
Supports: A current debate map only; no unexposed chapter argument is attributed.
Exact location: Schmid, Oxford Handbook chapter (2020), official abstract and six-question scope: Pentateuchal setting, reworked Tetrateuch, layers, date, covenant and treaty, and Deuteronomism
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open composition study
Deuteronomy: The First Torah
David A. Glatt-Gilad
TheTorah.com, 2015
Supports: Mosaic speech presentation, self-referential Torah language, final-form function, and one model of earlier independent literary life.
Exact location: Glatt-Gilad, 'Deuteronomy: The First Torah,' complete article sections on speeches, Torah self-reference, law differences, and Joshua-Kings reception; applied to Deuteronomy 20:10–18
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open war and ethics study
Deuteronomy's Herem Law: Protecting Israel at the Cost of Its Humanity
Mordechai Cogan
TheTorah.com, 2022
Supports: Lethal totality, civilian and captive effects, war categories, comparison, ideological reconstruction, and strict modern non-transfer.
Exact location: Cogan, 'Deuteronomy's Herem Law,' complete sections on Deuteronomy 20, wars inside and outside Canaan, Joshua implementation, ancient Near Eastern brutality, and ethical cost; applied to Deuteronomy 20:10–18
Open source ↗