Deuteronomy 20

1 “If you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horsemen and chariots, and that the multitude of your adversary’s army is greater than your own, you shall not fear them. For the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, is with you.

And if you should go forth to war against your enemies, and should see horse, and rider, and a people more numerous than yourself; you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God [is] with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

2 Then, as the battle now draws near, the priest shall stand before the front ranks, and he shall speak to the people in this manner:

And it shall come to pass whenever you shall draw near to battle, that the priest shall draw near and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

3 ‘Listen, O Israel! Today you engage in a battle against your enemies. Do not let your heart be overwhelmed with fear. Do not be apprehensive. Do not yield. You should have no dread of them.

Hear, O Israel; you 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 the Lord your God is in your midst, and he will contend against your enemies on your behalf, so that he may rescue you from peril.’

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

5 Likewise, the officers shall proclaim, throughout every company, in the hearing of the soldiers: ‘What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in the battle, and another man may dedicate 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 What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not yet caused it to be common, so that all may eat from it? Let him go, and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in the battle, and another man may carry out his office.

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 has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go, and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in battle, and another man may take 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 After these things have been declared, they shall add the remainder, and shall say to the people: ‘What man is there who is overwhelmed by fear and is fainthearted? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he cause the hearts of his brothers to fear, just as he himself has been thoroughly stricken with fear.’

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 And when the officers of the army have become silent, and have completed their speech, each one shall prepare his unit to wage war.

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, at any time, you approach a city to fight against it, you shall first offer peace to it.

And if you shall draw near to a city to overcome them by war, then call them out peaceably.

11 If they receive it, and open the gates to you, then all the people who are in it shall be saved, and they shall serve you by paying tribute.

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

12 But if they are not willing to enter into an agreement, and they begin to act against you in warfare, then you shall besiege it.

But if they will not listen to you, but wage war against you, you shall invest it;

13 And when the Lord your God will have delivered it into your hands, you shall strike down anyone who is in it, of the male gender, with the edge of the sword,

until the Lord your God shall deliver it into your hands, and you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:

14 but not the women and young children, nor the cattle and the other things that are within the city. And you shall divide all the plunder to the soldiers, and you shall eat the spoils from your enemies, which the Lord your God will give to you.

except the women and the stuff: and all the cattle, and whatever shall be in the city, and all the plunder you shall take as spoil for yourself, and shall eat all the plunder of your enemies whom the Lord your God gives you.

15 So shall you do to all the cities which are at a great distance from you, those which are not among the cities that you shall receive as a possession.

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

16 But among those cities which shall be given to you, you shall not permit anyone at all to live.

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

17 Instead, you shall put them to death with the edge of the sword, specifically: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.

but you 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 your God commanded you:

18 Otherwise, they may teach you to do all the abominations which they have committed for their own gods. And then you would sin against the Lord your God.

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

19 When you will have besieged a city for a long time, and you will have encircled it with fortifications, so that you may fight against it, you shall not cut down trees from which one is able to eat, neither shall you cause devastation with axes to the surrounding region. For it is a tree, and not a man. It is not able to increase the number of those who are fighting against you.

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

20 But if there are any trees which are not fruitful, but are wild, and if these are fit for other uses, then cut them down, and make machines, until you have captured the city that is contending against you.”

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