20
1 When
you go out
to battle against
your enemies, and
see horses,
chariots, and a
people more
numerous than you,
you shall not
be afraid of
them; for the
LORD your God,
who brought you
up out of
the land of Egypt,
is with you.
2 It
shall be, when
you draw near
to the battle,
that the priest
shall approach and
speak to the
people,
3 and
shall tell them,
“Hear, Israel, you
draw near today
to battle against
your enemies. Don’t let your
heart faint! Don’t
be afraid, nor
tremble, neither be scared
of them;
4 for
the LORD your
God is he
who goes with
you, to fight
for you against
your enemies, to
save you.”
5 The
officers shall
speak to the
people, saying, “What
man is there
who has built
a new house,
and has not
dedicated it? Let
him go and
return to his
house, lest he
die in the
battle, and
another man
dedicate it.
6 What
man is there
who has planted
a vineyard, and
has not used its
fruit? Let him
go and return
to his house,
lest he die
in the battle,
and another man
use its fruit.
7 What
man is there
who has pledged to
be married to
a wife, and has
not taken her?
Let him go
and return to
his house, lest
he die in
the battle, and
another man take
her.”
8 The
officers shall
speak further to
the people, and
they shall say, “What
man is there who
is fearful
and faint-hearted? Let
him go and
return to his
house, lest his brother’s
heart melt as
his heart.”
9 It
shall be, when
the officers have
finished speaking
to the people,
that they shall
appoint captains
of armies at
the head of
the people.
10 When
you draw near
to a city
to fight against
it, then proclaim
peace to it.
11 It
shall be, if
it gives you
answer of peace
and opens to
you, then it
shall be that
all the people
who are
found therein shall
become forced
laborers to you,
and shall serve
you.
12 If it
will make no
peace with you,
but will make
war against you,
then you shall
besiege it.
13 When
the LORD your
God delivers it
into your hand,
you shall strike
every male of
it with the
edge of the
sword;
14 but
the women, the
little ones,
the livestock, and
all that is
in the city,
even all its
plunder, you shall
take for plunder
for yourself. You
may use the
plunder of
your enemies, which
the LORD your
God has given
you.
15 Thus
you shall do
to all the
cities which are
very far off
from you, which
are not of
the cities of
these nations.
16 But
of the cities
of these peoples
that the LORD
your God gives
you for an
inheritance, you
shall save alive
nothing that
breathes;
17 but
you shall utterly
destroy them: the
Hittite, the Amorite,
the Canaanite, the
Perizzite, the
Hivite, and the
Jebusite, as the
LORD your God
has commanded you;
18 that
they not teach
you to follow
all their
abominations, which
they have done
for their gods; so
would you sin
against the LORD
your God.
19 When
you shall besiege
a city a
long time, in
making war against
it to take
it, you shall
not destroy its
trees by wielding
an ax against them;
for you may
eat of them.
You shall not
cut them down,
for is the
tree of the
field man, that
it should be
besieged by you?
20 Only
the trees that
you know are
not trees for
food, you shall
destroy and cut
them down. You
shall build
bulwarks against
the city that
makes war with
you, until it
falls.