Deuteronomy 20

¹ ‘When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, you must not be afraid of them; Yahweh your God is with you, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

² When you are about to join battle the priest is to come forward and address the people.

³ He is to say to them, “Listen, Israel; now that you are about to join battle against your enemies, do not be faint-hearted. Let there be no fear or trembling or alarm as you face them.

⁴ Yahweh your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.”

⁵ Then the scribes are to address the people in words like these: “Is there any man here who has built a new house and not yet dedicated it? Let him go home lest he die in battle and another perform the dedication.

⁶ “Is there any man here who has planted a vineyard and not yet enjoyed its fruit? Let him go home lest he die in battle and another enjoy its fruit.

⁷ Is there any man here who has betrothed a wife and not yet taken her? Let him go home lest he die in battle and another take her.”

⁸ ‘The scribes shall also address the people like this: “Is there any man here who is fearful and faint of heart? Let him go home lest he make his fellows lose heart too.”

⁹ ‘And when the scribes have finished speaking to the people, commanders will be appointed to lead them.

¹⁰ When you advance to the attack on any town, first offer it terms of peace.

¹¹ If it accepts these and opens its gates to you, all the people to be found in it shall do forced labour for you and be subject to you.

¹² But if it refuses peace and offers resistance, you must lay siege to it.

¹³ Yahweh your God shall deliver it into your power and you are to put all its menfolk to the sword.

¹⁴ But the women, the children, the livestock and all that the town contains, all its spoil, you may take for yourselves as booty. You will devour the spoil of your enemies which Yahweh your God has delivered to you.

¹⁵ ‘That is how you will treat the far-distant towns not belonging to the nations near you.

¹⁶ But as regards the towns of those peoples which Yahweh your God gives you as your own inheritance, you must not spare the life of any living thing.

¹⁷ Instead, you must lay them under ban, the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, as Yahweh your God commanded,

¹⁸ so that they may not teach you to practise all the detestable practices they have in honour of their gods and so cause you to sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹ ‘If, when attacking a town, you have to besiege it for a long time before you capture it, you must not destroy its trees by taking an axe to them: eat their fruit but do not cut them down. Is the tree in the fields human that you should besiege it too?

²⁰ Any trees, however, which you know are not fruit trees, you may mutilate and cut down and use to build siege-works against the hostile town until it falls.