THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 20

1 ¶ When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more numerous than yourselves, do not be afraid of them: for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

2 And when you come near to the battle, the priest will approach and speak to the people,

3 And shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, you draw near this day to fight against your enemies: do not let your hearts be faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble, or be terrified because 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 And 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 return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

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

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

8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? let him return to his house, lest the heart of his fellows faint as well.

9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of the armies to lead the people.

10 ¶ When you draw near a city to fight against it, first offer it terms of peace.

11 And if that city’s answer to you is peace, and it opens to you, then all the people in it shall be subject to you, and they shall serve you.

12 And if it will not make peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

13 And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall strike down every male in it with the edge of the sword:

14 But the women, the children, the cattle, and all that is in the city, all of its spoil, you shall take for yourselves; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you.

15 You shall do this to all the cities which are far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall not save alive anything that breathes:

17 But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD your God has commanded you:

18 So that they do not teach you to practice all the abominable things which they have done for their gods; and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.

19 When you besiege a city for a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by using an axe on them: for you can eat their fruit, you shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

20 However you may cut down those trees which you know are not fruit trees; and use them to build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.