Deuteronomy 13:15

“Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, etc.] This could not be the work of a single person, nor of the whole sanhedrim, but was what the whole nation was to join in, according to the above note: destroying it utterly; pulling down the houses, and demolishing its walls and fortifications, or burning it, as afterwards explained: and all that is therein; men, women, and children: and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword; this severity was used to show the Lord’s indignation against the sin of idolatry, and to deter persons from it, both individuals and bodies of men.”

“The inhabitants - Namely, all that are guilty, not the innocent part, such as disowned this apostacy, who doubtless by choice, at least upon warning, would come out of so wicked a place. Utterly - The very same punishment which was, inflicted upon the cities of the cursed Canaanites, to whom having made themselves equal in sin, it is but just God should equal them in punishment. Deuteronomy 13:16”

“destroying it utterly: Deu 2:34, Deu 7:2, Deu 7:16; Exo 22:20, Exo 23:24; Lev 27:28; Jos 6:17-21, Jos 6:24; Jdg 20:48; Rev 17:16, Rev 18:18-24, Rev 19:2, Rev 19:3 Deuteronomy 13:16”

“Upon this report the people as a whole, of course through their rulers, were to examine closely into the affair (היטב, an adverb, as in Deu 9:21), whether the word was established as truth, i.e., the thing was founded in truth (cf. Deu 17:4; Deu 22:20); and if it really were so, they were to smite the inhabitants of that town with the edge of the sword (cf. Gen 34:26), putting the town and all that was in it under the ban. "All that is in it" relates to men, cattle, and the material property of the town, and not to men alone (Schultz). The clause from "destroying" to "therein" is a more minute definition of the punishment introduced as a parenthesis; for "the cattle thereof," which follows,…”