Last of the seven nations of Deuteronomy 7:1, and the one whose city Israel does not take. The Jebusites held JEBUS, which is Jerusalem, and they were still holding it when David captured the stronghold generations after Joshua (2 Samuel 5:6-9, not yet on these pages) — and even then Araunah the Jebusite is still on his threshing floor, selling it to David for an altar rather than being destroyed. ⚠ That single case is the clearest internal counterweight to reading this chapter’s ban as something that was carried out: the capital of the kingdom that produced the book of Deuteronomy was, on the Bible’s own account, taken from a people the book says were to be devoted to destruction, centuries late and by purchase at the end.