Deuteronomy 20

1 When thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

“When your [soldiers] go to fight your enemies, and you see that they have many horses and chariots and that their army is much bigger than yours, do not be afraid of them, because Yahweh our God, who brought your [ancestors safely] out of Egypt, will be with you.

2 And it shall be, when ye are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,

When you are ready to start the battle, the Supreme Priest must stand in front of the troops.

3 And shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day to battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;

He must say to them, ‘You Israeli men, listen to me! Today you are going to fight against your enemies. Do not be timid or afraid [DOU] or tremble or panic [DOU],

4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

because Yahweh our God will go with you. He will fight your enemies for you, and he will enable you to defeat them.’

5 And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should dedicate it.

Then the army officers must say to the troops, ‘If anyone among you has just built a new house [RHQ] and has not dedicated it [to God], he should go home [and dedicate the house]. If he does not do that, if he dies in the battle, someone else will dedicate the house [and live in it].

6 And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should eat of it.

If anyone among you has planted a vineyard and has not yet harvested any grapes from it [RHQ], he should go home. If he [stays here and] dies in the battle, someone else will [harvest the grapes and] enjoy [the wine made from them].

7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he should die in battle, and another man should take her.

If anyone among you has become engaged to marry a woman [but has not married her yet] [RHQ], he should go home. If [he stays here and] dies in the battle, someone else will marry her.’

8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren’s heart should faint as well as his heart.

“Then the officers must also say, ‘If anyone among you is afraid or timid [RHQ], he should go home, in order that he does not cause his fellow soldiers to also stop being courageous.’

9 And it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

And when the officers have finished speaking to the troops, they must appoint commanders [to lead the groups of soldiers].

10 When thou comest near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.

“When you come near a city [that is far away] to attack it, first tell the people there that if they surrender, you will not attack them.

11 And it shall be, if it shall make thee answer of peace, and open to thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall be forced labourers to thee, and they shall serve thee.

If they open the gates of the city and surrender, they all will become your slaves to work for you.

12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

But if they refuse to [surrender] peacefully, and decide instead to fight against you, your troops must surround the city [and break through the walls].

13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

Then, when Yahweh our God enables you to capture [IDM] the city, you must kill all the men in the city.

14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil of it, shalt thou take to thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.

But you are allowed to take for yourselves the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else [that you want to take] from the city. You will be allowed to enjoy all the things that belonged to your enemies; it is Yahweh our God who has given those things to you.

15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very distant from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

You should do that in all the cities that are far from the land in which you will settle.

16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

“But in the cities that are in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you, you must kill all the people and all the animals [LIT].

17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:

You must get rid of them completely. Get rid of the Heth people-group, the Amor people-group, the Canaan people-group, the Periz people-group, the Hiv people-group, and the Jebus people-group; that is what Yahweh our God commanded you to do.

18 That they may not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

If you do not do that, they will teach you to sin against Yahweh our God and do the disgusting things that they do when they worship their gods.

19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees of it by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life ) to employ them in the siege:

“When you surround a city for a long time, trying to capture it, do not cut down the fruit trees [outside the city]. You are allowed to eat the fruit from the trees, but do not get rid of the trees, because they certainly are not [RHQ] your enemies.

20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it shall be subdued.

You are permitted to cut down the other trees and use the wood to make ladders and towers to enable you to [go over the walls and] capture the city.”