Deuteronomy 20
1When
thou goest out to battle against thine 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, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
2And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall
approach and speak unto the people,
3And shall
say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not,
and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
4For
the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
5And the officers shall speak unto 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 die in the battle, and another man
dedicate it.
6And what man is he that hath
planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and
another man eat of it.
7And what man is there
that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another
man take her.
8And the officers shall speak
further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto
his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.
9And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people that they shall make
captains of the armies to lead the people.
10When
thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
11And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all
the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
12And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then
thou shalt besiege it:
13And when the LORD
thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city,
even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy
God hath given thee.
15Thus shalt thou do
unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for
an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
17But
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:
18That
they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the
LORD your God.
19When thou shalt besiege a
city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe 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:
20Only the trees which thou
knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city
that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.
