And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city,.... All the inhabitants of it, by the direction of Joshua, and according to the order of the Lord, Deu 7:1; being guilty of capital crimes, which deserved death, as idolatry, incest, &c. both men and women, young and old; neither sex nor age were spared: and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword; in which creatures chiefly lay the substance of the eastern people; see Job 1:3.