The first sentence of this verse may be broken into two sentences as follows: “They took their swords and killed everyone in the city. They killed all the men, women, and children.” All living things, human and animal, are put to death; logically this would seem to include Rahab and her family, but verses 22-25 narrate how they were spared.

“Utterly destroyed” (Revised Standard Version; Good News Translation killed everyone) translates a verb which comes from the same stem as the noun that Revised Standard Version translates “destruction” in verse 17 and “things devoted to destruction,” “devoted things,” and “a thing for destruction” in verse 18; see comments there.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Newman, Barclay M. A Handbook on Joshua. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1983. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .