Deuteronomy 20

1 When you march out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you must not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, he who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

And if thou shouldest go forth to war against thine enemies, and shouldest see horse, and rider, and a people more numerous than thyself; thou shalt not be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God [is] with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2 When you are about to enter into battle, the priest must approach and speak to the people.

And it shall come to pass whenever thou shalt draw nigh to battle, that the priest shall draw nigh and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

3 He must say to them, 'Listen, Israel, you are going to battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts faint. Do not fear or tremble. Do not be afraid of them.

Hear, O Israel; ye are going this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint, fear not, neither be confounded, neither turn aside from their face.

4 For Yahweh your God is the one who is going with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.'

For [it is] the Lord your God who advances with you, to fight with you against your enemies, [and] to save you.

5 The officers must speak to the people and say, 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man dedicates it.

And the scribes shall speak to the people, saying, What man [is] he that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man dedicate it.

6 Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go home, so he will not die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.

And what man [is] he that has planted a vineyard, and not been made merry with it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man be made merry with it.

7 What man is there who is engaged to marry a woman but has not yet married her? Let him go home so that he does not die in battle and another man marries her.'

And what man [is] he that has betrothed 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 must speak further to the people and say, 'What man is there who is fearful or fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that his brother's heart does not melt like his own heart.'

And the scribes shall speak further to the people, and say, What man [is] he that fears and is cowardly in his heart? Let him go and return to his house, lest he make the heart of his brother fail, as his own.

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they must appoint commanders over them.

And it shall come to pass when the scribes shall have ceased speaking to the people, that they shall appoint generals of the army to be leaders of the people.

10 When you march up to attack a city, make those people an offer of peace.

And if thou shalt draw nigh to a city to overcome them by war, then call them out peaceably.

11 If they accept your offer and open their gates to you, all the people who are found in it must become forced labor for you and must serve you.

If then they should answer peaceably to thee, and open to thee, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary and subject to thee.

12 But if it makes no offer of peace to you, but instead makes war against you, then you must besiege it,

But if they will not hearken to thee, but wage war against thee, thou shalt invest it;

13 and when Yahweh your God gives you victory and puts them under your control, you must kill every man in the town.

until the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, and thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

14 But the women, the little ones, the cattle, and everything that is in the city, and all its spoil, you will take as booty for yourself. You will consume the booty of your enemies, whom Yahweh your God has given to you.

except the women and the stuff: and all the cattle, and whatsoever shall be in the city, and all the plunder thou shalt take as spoil for thyself, and shalt eat all the plunder of thine enemies whom the Lord thy God gives thee.

15 You must act in this way toward all the cities that are very far from you, cities that are not of the cities of these following nations.

Thus shalt thou do to all the cities that are very far off from thee, not [being] of the cities of these nations which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit their land.

16 In the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must save alive nothing that breathes.

[Of these] ye shall not take any thing alive;

17 Instead, you must completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you.

but ye shall surely curse them, the Chettite, and the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Gergesite; as the Lord thy God commanded thee:

18 Do this so that they do not teach you to act in any of their abominable ways, as they have done with their gods. If you do, you will sin against Yahweh your God.

that they may not teach you to do all their abominations, which they did to their gods, and [so] ye should sin before the Lord your God.

19 When you will besiege a city for a long time, as you wage war against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. For you may eat from them, so you must not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man whom you should besiege?

And if thou shouldest besiege a city many days to prevail against it by war to take it, thou shalt not destroy its trees, by applying an iron tool to them, but thou shalt eat of it, and shalt not cut it down: Is the tree that is in the field a man, to enter before thee into the work of the siege?

20 Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you may destroy and cut down; you will build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

But the tree which thou knowest to be not fruit-bearing, this thou shalt destroy and cut down; and thou shalt construct a mound against the city, which makes war against thee, until it be delivered up.