Deuteronomy 3:6 records Israel’s total destruction of the cities conquered from King Og of Bashan, and it describes that destruction as complete, with every inhabited city and its people put to death. Moses is recalling this campaign to the new generation of Israelites gathered on the east side of the Jordan, reminding them what the LORD had done for them in battle.
We utterly destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones.
Deuteronomy 3:6 (WEB)
What Deuteronomy 3:6 Means
The verse opens with “We utterly destroyed them,” a phrase the Hebrew renders with the verb for putting something under the ban, meaning it was devoted to the LORD and set apart for total destruction. The comparison “as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon” ties this campaign to the earlier victory over Sihon, which Moses has just described in the chapter before. The writer is explaining a pattern of conquest, not adding a new event.
The phrase “every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones” is the hardest part for modern readers. The text states plainly that the whole population was killed, including non-combatants. Scholars and pastors have long wrestled with this, and the verse does not explain it in the surrounding words beyond saying that the LORD delivered these kings into Israel’s hand. A reader should not treat the verse as a general model of how God’s people should treat enemies, since it describes one specific event in a particular covenant setting.
What the verse does promise is nothing about personal blessing or outcomes in ordinary life. It records a historical claim: that Israel believed the victory belonged to the LORD and was carried out under his command. Read honestly, it is a sober passage about the cost of conquest and the seriousness with which ancient Israel understood its covenant with God.
The Context of Deuteronomy 3:6
Deuteronomy is presented as a series of speeches Moses gave to Israel on the plains of Moab just before they entered the land of Canaan. The book is traditionally attributed to Moses, though many scholars date its final form later and see it as shaped by Israelite tradition over centuries. The first audience was the generation that had come out of Egypt’s slavery and was now poised to cross into the promised land, and Moses is retelling their recent history to prepare them.
The verses just before and after set the scene. Verses 1 through 5 describe the defeat of Og and the capture of sixty fortified cities in the region of Argob. Verses 7 through 9 follow with the note that Israel kept the livestock and plunder for themselves and identify the boundaries of the land taken from the Amorite kings. Seeing the verse within this recital shows that it is one part of a larger account about God giving Israel territory east of the Jordan, and it helps explain why the verse is written as a report of past victory rather than a command for the future.
Key Phrases in Deuteronomy 3:6
Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a holy people to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
(WEB)
This verse describes Israel as a people chosen and set apart for the LORD, which explains why the conquest of the land was framed in terms of holiness and devotion. Reading it alongside Deuteronomy 3:6 helps you see the theological reason the writer gave for the campaigns, namely that Israel belonged to God in a special way.
Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
(WEB)
Micah sums up what the LORD requires as justice, mercy, and humble walking with God. Setting it beside Deuteronomy 3:6 gives you a standard for measuring how God’s people are to live, and it shows that the prophets later pressed these ideas of justice and mercy hard against the failures of Israel’s own leaders.
A Short Prayer From Deuteronomy 3:6
Lord, I come to your word with questions I cannot fully answer. Some passages in Scripture describe events that trouble me, and I ask you to help me read them honestly, without rushing past what is hard. Teach me to see your justice and your mercy together across the whole of your story. Keep me from using any part of your word as an excuse for harshness toward others, and help me to walk humbly with you each day. Amen.
