2:34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them50 under divine judgment,51 including even the women and children; we left no survivors.
tnHeb “every city of men.” This apparently identifies the cities as inhabited.
51
tnHeb “under the ban” (נַחֲרֵם, nakharem). The verb employed is חָרַם (kharam, usually in the Hiphil) and the associated noun is חֵרֶם (kherem). See J. Naudé, NIDOTTE, 2:276–77, and, for a more thorough discussion, Susan Niditch, War in the Hebrew Bible, 28–77.
snDivine judgment refers to God’s designation of certain persons, places, and things as objects of his special wrath and judgment because, in his omniscience, he knows them to be impure and hopelessly unrepentant.