tel denotes a mound connected either with a city’s standing site or with its devastated remains.

The attested passages show a mound as the elevated location on which a city stands or is rebuilt, and as the resulting heap when a city is destroyed. The contribution of the construct-form noun in Deuteronomy 13:17 is not isolable from the supplied translation.

1. Mound serving as a city’s site · common

   The construct-form noun identifies the mound connected with a city’s location: in Jeremiah 30:18 the APB renders that the city will be rebuilt “on its mound,” and in Joshua 11:13 it describes cities that “stood on their mounds.”

   Jeremiah 30:18Joshua 11:13
2. Heap marking devastation · common

   The construct-form noun occurs in descriptions of destruction: in Jeremiah 49:2 the APB renders Rabbah as becoming “a mound of devastation,” while in Joshua 8:28 it renders Ai as “a heap forever, a desolation.”

   Jeremiah 49:2Joshua 8:28

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB presents the term with “mound” for a rebuilt city and a devastated city, “mounds” for standing cities, and “heap” for Ai’s destruction. Deuteronomy 13:17 does not clearly isolate its contribution.