Deuteronomy 25:18

how he met thee by the way better, fell on thee. Cp. 1 Samuel 15:2: how he set himself against him(Israel) in the way.

and smote the hindmost of thee Lit. docked the tail of thee; elsewhere only in Joshua 10:19 (E?).

all that had broken down in thy rear] The vb. is not found elsewhere.

feared not God See E, Genesis 20:11; Genesis 42:18; Exodus 1:17, all of non-Israelites; and cp. Amos" denunciations of foreign peoples for inhumanity (Amos 1:3 to Amos 2:3). A people so devoid of natural religion as to kill the non-combatants deserved no mercy, as the next v. declares.