None of you may sell or buy back what you have unconditionally dedicated to the LORD, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the LORD.

Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.

Then in his vision Balaam saw the Amalekites and uttered this prophecy: "Amalek was the most powerful nation of all, But at the end it will perish forever."

then kill all the people in that town and all their livestock too. Destroy that town completely.

Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to the LORD your God. It must be left in ruins forever and never again be rebuilt.

"But when you capture cities in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, kill everyone.

Kill them, so that they will not make you sin against the LORD by teaching you to do all the disgusting things that they do in the worship of their gods.

The city and everything in it must be totally destroyed as an offering to the LORD. Only the prostitute Rahab and her household will be spared, because she hid our spies.

Everything made of silver, gold, bronze, or iron is set apart for the LORD. It is to be put in the LORD's treasury."

With their swords they killed everyone in the city, men and women, young and old. They also killed the cattle, sheep, and donkeys.

Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

So now kill every boy and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse,

Let the slaughter begin! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.

The LORD Almighty says, "I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing---no children, no survivors at all. I, the LORD, have spoken.

And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.

It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants.

For creation was condemned to lose its purpose, not of its own will, but because God willed it to be so. Yet there was the hope

For we know that up to the present time all of creation groans with pain, like the pain of childbirth.