Negative commandment · Lo Ta’aseh #23 of 613
Not to rebuild an apostate city to its former stature
שלא לבנות עיר הנידחת לכמות שהייתה
The verse · Devarim 13:17
וְאֶת־כׇּל־שְׁלָלָהּ תִּקְבֹּץ אֶל־תּוֹךְ רְחֹבָהּ וְשָׂרַפְתָּ בָאֵשׁ אֶת־הָעִיר וְאֶת־כׇּל־שְׁלָלָהּ כָּלִיל לַה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ וְהָיְתָה תֵּל עוֹלָם לֹא תִבָּנֶה עוֹד
“And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the open place of the city, and shalt burn with fire both the city and the entire plunder taken in it, for the Lord thy God: and it shall be a heap for ever; it shall not be built again.”
The Rambam’s words
Not to rebuild an apostate city to its former stature, as [Deuteronomy 13:17] states: "It shall never be rebuilt."
שלא לבנות עיר הנידחת לכמות שהייתה, שנאמר "לא תיבנה עוד" (דברים יג,יז).
Why · Sefer HaChinuch #465
To not rebuild an enticed city
“The root of this commandment is well-known — that evil and sinful men like this that agreed [upon] a bad and disgusting agreement like this together are fit to have their name erased and their memory destroyed from the world, and that there should not be a place of their remembrance in the world at all.”
Who & when
“And this prohibition is practiced by males and females at the time that the law of an enticed city is practiced — and that is at the time that Israel is on their Land and the Sanhedrin is sitting in its place, as I have written above (Sefer HaChinukh 464).”
Where in the Mishneh Torah
Hilchot Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations הלכות עבודה זרה וחוקות הגויים