What Does Deuteronomy 3:6 Mean?
And we devoted them to destruction, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, devoting the men, the women, and the little ones of every city.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And we utterly destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city.THE KEY
The repeated root ḥ-r-m makes the destruction of every city and every person one unqualified act of placing everything under the ban.
THE MEANING
The verse names the full scope: every city, with men, women, and children included. Its repeated verb places them under a ban of destruction, leaving no exception in the wording.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that “utterly destroyed” means defeating combatants alone: it expressly includes women and children.
THE ROOT
וַנַּחֲרֵם
waynaḥarēm
GROWS FROM
חרם
ḥ-r-m
To place under a ban or devote irrevocably; here, to devote to destruction.
“devoted them to destruction” in this verse is waynaḥarēm. English can make “utterly destroyed” sound like a general report of defeat. The repeated Hebrew root marks the act as placing the cities and their people under a ban, and the verse names women and children within its scope.
ALSO GROWS
ḥērem: A ban, or something devoted under a ban, often to destruction.
חֵרֶם
The noun shows that the verse’s verb belongs to the language of a categorical ban, not just an ordinary defeat.
heḥĕrēm: To place under a ban; to devote to destruction.
הֶחֱרֵם
This verbal form appears in the verse’s repeated phrasing, reinforcing the totality of the act.
THE PATTERN
When people or places are put under the ban, the text describes destruction as total and names who or what is included.
And we took all his cities at that time, and devoted to destruction the men, and the women, and the little ones of every city; we left no survivor.And they devoted to destruction all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the mouth of the sword.Now go and strike Amalek, and devote all that they have to destruction, and do not spare them; but put to death man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.THE THREAD
And they devoted to destruction all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and donkey, with the mouth of the sword.Joshua’s verse uses the same root, ḥ-r-m (חרם), meaning “to place under a ban” or “devote to destruction,” for what happens to everyone in Jericho. That link shows that “utterly destroyed” here carries the force of ban-language, with the verse making its total scope explicit.
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