Deu 20 | ABEn | STEP | And if you should go forth to war against your enemies, and you should behold a horse, and rider, and [ 2 people 1 many more] than you, do not be fearful of them! for the lord your God is with you, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 20

CHAPTER 20 Concerning War

1 And if you should go forth to war against your enemies, and you should behold a horse, and rider, and [²people ¹many more] than you, do not be fearful of them! for the lord your God is with you, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt. 2 And it will be whenever you should approach to the war, that [³drawing near ¹the ²priest] shall speak to the people, and shall say to them, 3 Hear, O Israel! You go today to war with your enemies; do not loosen your heart; do not fear nor be devastated, nor turn aside from their face! 4 For the lord your God, the one going forth with you, he shall join in war with you against your enemies, and he shall preserve you. 5 And [³shall speak ¹the ²scribes] to the people, saying, Who is the man building [²house ¹a new], and did not dedicate it? Let him go and return to his house! lest he die in the war, and [²man ¹another] shall dedicate it. 6 And Who is the man whoever plants a vineyard, and was not glad from it? Let him go, and let him return to his house! lest he should die in the war, and [²man ¹another] be glad from out of his labor. 7 And who is the man who has espoused a woman, and did not take her? Let him go, and let him return to his house! lest he die in the war, and [²man ¹another] shall take her. 8 And [³shall add ¹the ²scribes] to speak to the people, and shall say, Who is the man, the one fearing and timid in the heart? Let him go, and let him return to his house! that he should not make timid the heart of his brother, as he. 9 And it will be whenever [³should cease ¹the ²scribes] speaking to the people, that they shall place rulers of the military taking lead of the people. 10 And if you should come forward to a city to wage war against it, that you should call them forth with peace. 11 And it shall be if then they should peaceably answer you, and open to you, it shall be that all the people being found in it shall be [²to you ¹tributaries], and subjects to you. 12 But if they should not obey you, and should make [²against ³you ¹war], and you shall besiege it, 13 and [³shall deliver ⁴it ¹the lord ²your God] into your hands, then you shall strike every male of it by carnage of the sword, 14 except the women and the belongings. And all the cattle, and all as much as exists in the city, and all the chattel you shall despoil for yourself, and you shall eat all the plunder of your enemy, whom the lord your God gives to you. 15 Thus you shall do for all the cities [²far away ¹being] from you exceedingly, which are not from the cities of these nations which the lord your God gives to you to inherit their land. 16 But behold, from the cities of these nations which the lord your God gives to you to inherit their land, you shall not take alive any one breathing. 17 But you shall devote them to consumption -- the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and Perizzite, and Hivite, and Jebusite, and Gergesite; in which manner [³gave charge ⁴to you ¹the lord ²your God]; 18 that they should not teach you to do all their abominations, as many as they made unto their gods, that you shall sin before the lord your God. 19 But if you should besiege around a city [²days ¹many] to wage war against it for taking it, you shall not utterly destroy its trees by putting upon them an iron axe; but of it you shall eat, [³it down ¹but ²you shall not cut]; nor is a man [²the ³tree ⁴in ⁵the ⁶grove ¹to enter unto] from your presence for the siege mound? 20 But the tree which you know that [²not ³fruit-bearing ¹it is], this you shall annihilate, and you shall cut it, and shall build a siege mound at the city, whichever makes [²against ³you ¹war], until whenever it should be delivered up.