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.

And if thou shouldest go forth to war against thine enemies, and shouldest see horse, and rider, and a people more numerous than thyself; thou shalt not be afraid of them, for the Lord thy God [is] with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

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

And it shall come to pass whenever thou shalt draw nigh to battle, that the priest shall draw nigh and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

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

Hear, O Israel; ye are going this day to battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint, fear not, neither be confounded, neither turn aside from their face.

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

For [it is] the Lord your God who advances with you, to fight with you against your enemies, [and] to save 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 the scribes shall speak to the people, saying, What man [is] he that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man dedicate it.

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.

And what man [is] he that has planted a vineyard, and not been made merry with it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man be made merry with it.

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.

And what man [is] he that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man 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 the scribes shall speak further to the people, and say, What man [is] he that fears and is cowardly in his heart? Let him go and return to his house, lest he make the heart of his brother fail, as his own.

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

And it shall come to pass when the scribes shall have ceased speaking to the people, that they shall appoint generals of the army to be leaders of the people.

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

And if thou shalt draw nigh to a city to overcome them by war, then call them out peaceably.

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

If then they should answer peaceably to thee, and open to thee, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary and subject to thee.

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

But if they will not hearken to thee, but wage war against thee, thou shalt invest it;

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

until the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, and thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

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.

except the women and the stuff: and all the cattle, and whatsoever shall be in the city, and all the plunder thou shalt take as spoil for thyself, and shalt eat all the plunder of thine enemies whom the Lord thy God gives thee.

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

Thus shalt thou do to all the cities that are very far off from thee, not [being] of the cities of these nations which the Lord thy God gives thee to inherit their land.

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

[Of these] ye shall not take any thing alive;

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

but ye shall surely curse them, the Chettite, and the Amorite, and the Chananite, and the Pherezite, and the Evite, and the Jebusite, and the Gergesite; as the Lord thy God commanded thee:

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

that they may not teach you to do all their abominations, which they did to their gods, and [so] ye should sin before 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.

And if thou shouldest besiege a city many days to prevail against it by war to take it, thou shalt not destroy its trees, by applying an iron tool to them, but thou shalt eat of it, and shalt not cut it down: Is the tree that is in the field a man, to enter before thee into the work of the siege?

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.

But the tree which thou knowest to be not fruit-bearing, this thou shalt destroy and cut down; and thou shalt construct a mound against the city, which makes war against thee, until it be delivered up.