Deuteronomy · Majority Standard Bible
Deuteronomy 20 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
1 When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you shall not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.
2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army,
2 It shall be, when you draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,
3 saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them.
3 and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them;
4 For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”
4 for Yahweh your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”
5 Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate it.
5 The officers shall speak to the people, saying, “What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
6 Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
6 What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use its fruit.
7 Has any man become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man marry her.”
7 What man is there who has pledged to be married to a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.”
8 Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.”
8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, “What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother’s heart melt as his heart.”
9 When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.
9 It shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.
10 When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.
10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.
11 If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
11 It shall be, if it gives you answer of peace and opens to you, then it shall be that all the people who are found therein shall become forced laborers to you, and shall serve you.
12 But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.
12 If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it.
13 When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
13 When Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword;
14 But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
14 but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you.
15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
16 But of the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes;
17 For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you;
18 so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
18 that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done for their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God.
19 When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?
19 When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down, for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you?
20 But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls.
20 Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 2 Chronicles 32:7–8; Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 20:7; Deuteronomy 31:6; Isaiah 43:2
- 2 2 Chronicles 13:12; Numbers 31:6; Numbers 10:8–9; 1 Samuel 14:18; Judges 20:27–28
- 3 Hebrews 13:6; Psalm 3:6; Revelation 2:10; Joshua 23:10; Psalm 27:1–3
- 4 Exodus 14:14; Deuteronomy 3:22; Deuteronomy 1:30; Joshua 23:10; Deuteronomy 11:25
- 5 Nehemiah 12:27; 1 Samuel 17:18; Deuteronomy 16:18; Numbers 31:48; Deuteronomy 1:15
- 6 Leviticus 19:23–25
- 7 Deuteronomy 24:5; Deuteronomy 28:30; 2 Timothy 2:4; Deuteronomy 22:23–25; Matthew 1:18
- 8 Judges 7:3; Revelation 21:8; Deuteronomy 1:28; Acts 15:37–38; Deuteronomy 23:9
- 10 Luke 10:5–6; 2 Corinthians 5:18–6:1; Ephesians 2:17; 2 Samuel 20:18–22; Zechariah 9:10
- 11 Joshua 11:19–20; Joshua 9:27; Joshua 9:22–23; Luke 19:14; Leviticus 25:42–46
- 13 Psalm 2:6–12; Luke 19:27; 1 Kings 11:15–16; Psalm 21:8–9; Numbers 31:17–18
- 14 Joshua 8:2; Joshua 22:8; Numbers 31:9; 2 Chronicles 20:25; Numbers 31:12
- 16 Joshua 11:14; Numbers 21:2–3; Deuteronomy 7:16; Deuteronomy 7:1–4; Joshua 6:17–21
- 17 Isaiah 34:5–6; Jeremiah 50:35–40; Deuteronomy 7:1–2; Ezekiel 38:21–23; Jeremiah 48:10
- 18 Deuteronomy 12:30–31; Exodus 23:33; Ephesians 5:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:14; 2 Corinthians 6:17
- 19 Matthew 3:10; Matthew 21:19; Deuteronomy 26:6; John 15:2–8; Luke 13:7–9
- 20 Isaiah 37:33; Jeremiah 6:6; Jeremiah 33:4; Ezekiel 17:17; Deuteronomy 1:28
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences