Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,.... This could not be the work of a single person, nor of the whole sanhedrim, but was what the whole nation was to join in, according to the above note: destroying it utterly; pulling down the houses, and demolishing its walls and fortifications, or burning it, as afterwards explained: and all that is therein; men, women, and children: and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword; this severity was used to show the Lord's indignation against the sin of idolatry, and to deter persons from it, both individuals and bodies of men.