Deuteronomii 20

1 Si exieris ad bellum contra hostes tuos, et videris equitatus et currus, et maiorem quam tu habeas adversarii exercitus multitudinem, non timebis eos: quia Dominus Deus tuus tecum est, qui eduxit te de Terra Aegypti.

When you go out to war against other nations, and come face to face with horses and war-carriages and armies greater in number than yourselves, have no fear of them: for the Lord your God is with you, who took you up out of the land of Egypt.

2 Appropinquante autem iam praelio, stabit sacerdos ante aciem, et sic loquetur ad populum:

And when you are on the point of attacking, let the priest come forward and say to the people,

3 Audi Israel, vos hodie contra inimicos vestros pugnam committitis, non pertimescat cor vestrum, nolite metuere, nolite cedere, nec formidetis eos:

Give ear, O Israel: today you are going forward to the fight; let your heart be strong; do not let uncontrolled fear overcome you because of those who are against you;

4 quia Dominus Deus vester in medio vestri est, et pro vobis contra adversarios dimicabit, ut eruat vos de periculo.

For the Lord your God goes with you, fighting for you to give you salvation from those who are against you.

5 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 eam.

And let the overseers say to the people, If there is any man who has made for himself a new house and has not gone into it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not take his house for himself.

6 Quis est homo qui plantavit vineam, et necdum fecit eam esse communem, de qua vesci omnibus liceat? vadat, et revertatur in domum suam: ne forte moriatur in bello, et alius homo eius fungatur officio.

Or if any man has made a vine-garden without taking the first-fruits of it, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another may not be the first to make use of the fruit.

7 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.

Or if any man is newly married and has had no sex relations with his wife, let him go back to his house, so that in the event of his death in the fight, another man may not take her.

8 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.

And let the overseers go on to say to the people, If there is any man whose heart is feeble with fear, let him go back to his house before he makes the hearts of his countrymen feeble.

9 Cumque siluerint duces exercitus, et finem loquendi fecerint, unusquisque suos ad bellandum cuneos praeparabit.

Then, after saying these words to the people, let the overseers put captains over the army.

10 Si quando accesseris ad expugnandam civitatem, offeres ei primum pacem.

When you come to a town, before attacking it, make an offer of peace.

11 Si receperit, et aperuerit tibi portas, cunctus populus, qui in ea est, salvabitur, et serviet tibi sub tributo.

And if it gives you back an answer of peace, opening its doors to you, then all the people in it may be put to forced work as your servants.

12 Sin autem foedus inire noluerit, et coeperit contra te bellum, oppugnabis eam.

If however it will not make peace with you, but war, then let it be shut in on all sides:

13 Cumque tradiderit Dominus Deus tuus illam in manu tua, percuties omne, quod in ea generis masculini est, in ore gladii,

And when the Lord your God has given it into your hands, let every male in it be put to death without mercy.

14 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.

But the women and the children and the cattle and everything in the town and all its wealth, you may take for yourselves: the wealth of your haters, which the Lord your God has given you, will be your food.

15 Sic facies cunctis civitatibus, quae a te procul valde sunt, et non sunt de his urbibus, quas in possessionem accepturus es.

So you are to do to all the towns far away, which are not the towns of these nations.

16 De his autem civitatibus, quae dabuntur tibi, nullum omnino permittes vivere:

But in the towns of these peoples whose land the Lord your God is giving you for your heritage, let no living thing be kept from death:

17 sed interficies in ore gladii, Hethaeum videlicet, et Amorrhaeum, et Chananaeum, Pherezaeum, et Hevaeum, et Iebusaeum, sicut praecepit tibi Dominus Deus tuus:

Give them up to the curse; the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has given you orders:

18 ne forte doceant vos facere cunctas abominationes, quas ipsi operati sunt diis suis: et peccetis in Dominum Deum vestrum.

So that you may not take them as your example and do all the disgusting things which they do in the worship of their gods, so sinning against the Lord your God.

19 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.

If in war a town is shut in by your armies for a long time, do not let its trees be cut down and made waste; for their fruit will be your food; are the trees of the countryside men for you to take up arms against them?

20 Si qua autem ligna non sunt pomifera, sed agrestia, et in ceteros apta usus, succide, et instrue machinas, donec capias civitatem, quae contra te dimicat.

Only those trees which you are certain are not used for food may be cut down and put to destruction: and you are to make walls of attack against the town till it is taken.