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.

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.

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 be when ye are come nigh to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,

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.

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;

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 the LORD your God [is] he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, 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 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.

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 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.

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 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.

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 officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man [is there that is] fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart should faint as well as his heart.

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 be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

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

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

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.

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 therein, shall be tributaries to thee, and they shall serve thee.

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.

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

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:

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.

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.

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

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

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:

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 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:

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 after all their abominations which they have done to their gods; so would ye sin against 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.

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 ax 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:

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.”

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.