The Complete Devotion of Canaanite Cities

Deuteronomy 20:16–20 is the movement “The Complete Devotion of Canaanite Cities.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “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:” It closes with: “Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.”

The immediate task here is to understand the covenant instruction in its own setting before asking whether later Scripture develops the same theme. No later connection should be forced merely to make the section look fuller.