¹⁶ You are to gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town^(A) and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God.^(B) That town is to remain a ruin^(C) forever, never to be rebuilt, ¹⁷ and none of the condemned things^[a] are to be found in your hands. Then the Lord will turn from his fierce anger,^(D) will show you mercy,^(E) and will have compassion^(F) on you. He will increase your numbers,^(G) as he promised^(H) on oath to your ancestors— ¹⁸ because you obey the Lord your God by keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right^(I) in his eyes.