Deuteronomii 20
1 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
When you march out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you must not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, he who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
2 adpropinquante autem iam proelio stabit sacerdos ante aciem et sic loquetur ad populum
When you are about to enter into battle, the priest must approach and speak to the people.
3 audi Israhel vos hodie contra inimicos vestros pugnam committitis non pertimescat cor vestrum nolite metuere nolite cedere nec formidetis eos
He must say to them, 'Listen, Israel, you are going to battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts faint. Do not fear or tremble. Do not be afraid of them.
4 quia Dominus Deus vester in medio vestri est et pro vobis contra adversarios dimicabit ut eruat vos de periculo
For Yahweh your God is the one who is going with you to fight for 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 illam
The officers must speak to the people and say, 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man dedicates it.
6 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
Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go home, so he will not die in battle and another man enjoy its 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
What man is there who is engaged to marry a woman but has not yet married her? Let him go home so that he does not die in battle and another man marries 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
The officers must speak further to the people and say, 'What man is there who is fearful or fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that his brother's heart does not melt like his own heart.'
9 cumque siluerint exercitus duces et finem loquendi fecerint unusquisque suos ad bellandum cuneos praeparabit
When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they must appoint commanders over them.
10 si quando accesseris ad expugnandam civitatem offeres ei primum pacem
When you march up to attack a city, make those people an offer of peace.
11 si receperit et aperuerit tibi portas cunctus populus qui in ea est salvabitur et serviet tibi sub tributo
If they accept your offer and open their gates to you, all the people who are found in it must become forced labor for you and must serve you.
12 sin autem foedus inire noluerint et receperint contra te bellum obpugnabis eam
But if it makes no offer of peace to you, but instead makes war against you, then you must besiege it,
13 cumque tradiderit Dominus Deus tuus illam in manu tua percuties omne quod in ea generis masculini est in ore gladii
and when Yahweh your God gives you victory and puts them under your control, you must kill every man in the town.
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, the little ones, the cattle, and everything that is in the city, and all its spoil, you will take as booty for yourself. You will consume the booty of your enemies, whom Yahweh your God has given to you.
15 sic facies cunctis civitatibus quae a te procul valde sunt et non sunt de his urbibus quas in possessionem accepturus es
You must act in this way toward all the cities that are very far from you, cities that are not of the cities of these following nations.
16 de his autem civitatibus quae dabuntur tibi nullum omnino permittes vivere
In the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must save alive nothing that breathes.
17 sed interficies in ore gladii Hettheum videlicet et Amorreum et Chananeum Ferezeum et Eveum et Iebuseum sicut praecepit tibi Dominus Deus tuus
Instead, you must completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you.
18 ne forte doceant vos facere cunctas abominationes quas ipsi operati sunt diis suis et peccetis in Dominum Deum vestrum
Do this so that they do not teach you to act in any of their abominable ways, as they have done with their gods. If you do, you will sin against Yahweh 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
When you will besiege a city for a long time, as you wage war against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. For you may eat from them, so you must not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man whom you should besiege?
20 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
Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you may destroy and cut down; you will build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
