DEUTERONOMY 20

When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yehowah your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall step forward and speak to the people, 3 and shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, today you draw near to the battle against your enemies; do not let your heart faint, and do not be afraid; or tremble, or be in dread of them; 4 for it is Yehowah your God who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, and say, Who has built a new house, but has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, in case he dies in the battle, and another man dedicates it. 6 And who has planted a vineyard, but has not made use of it?* Let him go back to his house, in case he dies in the battle, and another man makes use of it. 7 And who has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, in case he dies in the battle, and another man takes her. 8 Then the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, Who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, so that the hearts of his brothers may not melt like his heart. 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders at the head of the people. * lit profaned it

10 When you approach a city to fight against it, proclaim peace to it. 11 Then if it returns an answer of peace and opens up to you, all the people found in it shall be your slaves and shall serve you. 12 But if it will not make peace with you, but will make war with you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when Yehowah your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall strike down every male with the edge of the sword; 14 but the women and children, and the cattle, and everything in the city, all the spoil in it, you shall take for yourselves for booty; and you shall consume the spoil of your enemies, which Yehowah your God has given you. 15 You shall do this to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. 16 But from the cities of these peoples which Yehowah your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; 17 but you shall utterly destroy them-the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites-as Yehowah your God has commanded you, 18 or else they will teach you to do all the horrible things which they have done for their gods, and so you will sin against Yehowah your God.

19 When you besiege a city for many days, making war against it so as to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them, for you may eat of them, and so you shall not cut them-down; for is a tree of the fields a man,* that it should be besieged by you? 20 Yet you may destroy and cut down- the trees which you know are not trees for food; and you shall build siege-works against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued. * Reading he'adam for ha'adam of MT