The cities of these peoples that the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance: this is the familiar language, the way of speaking of the land of Canaan, which was the inheritance (see “inherit” in 1.38), that is, the Promised Land that Yahweh gave the Israelites. Another way of rendering this clause is “But whenever you capture towns in that land that the LORD your God is giving you, ….”

You shall save alive nothing that breathes: the Hebrew is literally “You shall not allow to live all [or, every] breathing being.” It seems clear that this includes all living beings, not simply human beings, and this is the meaning that should be expressed; so “anything that breathes” (New Revised Standard Version), or “all the people and animals” (Contemporary English Version). See Josh 10.40; 11.11, 14.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .