Deuteronomy 3:6

And we utterly destroyed them
Not the cities, but the inhabitants of them:

as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon;
they did not destroy his cities, for they took them and dwelt in them; but the people that lived there, as follows here:

utterly destroying the men, women, and children, of every city;
see ( Deuteronomy 2:34 ) .