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.
si exieris ad bellum contra hostes tuos et videris equitatum et currus et maiorem quam tu habes adversarii exercitus multitudinem non timebis eos quia Dominus Deus tuus tecum est qui eduxit te de terra Aegypti
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:
adpropinquante autem iam proelio stabit sacerdos ante aciem et sic loquetur ad populum
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.
audi Israhel vos hodie contra inimicos vestros pugnam committitis non pertimescat cor vestrum nolite metuere nolite cedere nec formidetis eos
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.’
quia Dominus Deus vester in medio vestri est et pro vobis contra adversarios dimicabit ut eruat vos de periculo
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.
duces quoque per singulas turmas audiente exercitu proclamabunt quis est homo qui aedificavit domum novam et non dedicavit eam vadat et revertatur in domum suam ne forte moriatur in bello et alius dedicet illam
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.
quis est homo qui plantavit vineam et necdum eam fecit esse communem et de qua vesci omnibus liceat vadat et revertatur in domum suam ne forte moriatur in bello et alius homo eius fungatur officio
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.’
quis est homo qui despondit uxorem et non accepit eam vadat et revertatur in domum suam ne forte moriatur in bello et alius homo accipiat eam
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.’
his dictis addent reliqua et loquentur ad populum quis est homo formidolosus et corde pavido vadat et revertatur in domum suam ne pavere faciat corda fratrum suorum sicut ipse timore perterritus est
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.
cumque siluerint exercitus duces et finem loquendi fecerint unusquisque suos ad bellandum cuneos praeparabit
10 When, at any time, you approach a city to fight against it, you shall first offer peace to it.
si quando accesseris ad expugnandam civitatem offeres ei primum pacem
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.
si receperit et aperuerit tibi portas cunctus populus qui in ea est salvabitur et serviet tibi sub tributo
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.
sin autem foedus inire noluerint et receperint contra te bellum obpugnabis eam
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,
cumque tradiderit Dominus Deus tuus illam in manu tua percuties omne quod in ea generis masculini est in ore gladii
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.
absque mulieribus et infantibus iumentis et ceteris quae in civitate sunt omnem praedam exercitui divides et comedes de spoliis hostium tuorum quae Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi
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.
sic facies cunctis civitatibus quae a te procul valde sunt et non sunt de his urbibus quas in possessionem accepturus es
16 But among those cities which shall be given to you, you shall not permit anyone at all to live.
de his autem civitatibus quae dabuntur tibi nullum omnino permittes vivere
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.
sed interficies in ore gladii Hettheum videlicet et Amorreum et Chananeum Ferezeum et Eveum et Iebuseum sicut praecepit tibi Dominus Deus tuus
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.
ne forte doceant vos facere cunctas abominationes quas ipsi operati sunt diis suis et peccetis in Dominum Deum vestrum
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.
quando obsederis civitatem multo tempore et munitionibus circumdederis ut expugnes eam non succides arbores de quibus vesci potest nec securibus per circuitum debes vastare regionem quoniam lignum est et non homo nec potest bellantium contra te augere numerum
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.”
si qua autem ligna non sunt pomifera sed agrestia et in ceteros apta usus succide et extrue machinas donec capias civitatem quae contra te dimicat
