The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Deuteronomy 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh 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 andopens to you,thenit shallbe 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 Yahweh 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 Yahweh your God
has given you.
15 Thus you shall do to allthe 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
Yahweh 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
Yahweh 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
Yahweh 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.