¹⁴ You must carefully find out if the rumor is true. Then if the people of that town have actually done such a disgusting thing in your own country, ¹⁵ you must take your swords and kill every one of them, and their livestock too. ^16-17 Gather all the possessions of the people who lived there, and pile them up in the marketplace, without keeping anything for yourself. Set the pile and the whole town on fire, and don't ever rebuild the town. The whole town will be a sacrifice to the Lord your God. Then he won't be angry anymore, and he will have mercy on you and make your nation stronger, just as he promised your ancestors.