Deuteronomy 20
The full text of Deuteronomy 20 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.
2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.
3 He shall say: "Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.
4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."
5 The officers shall say to the army: "Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it.
6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.
7 Has anyone become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her."
8 Then the officers shall add, "Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too."
9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.
10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.
12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.
13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.
14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.
15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
18 otherwise they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?
20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.
Translation notes (9)
- Deuteronomy 20:3a Four near-synonyms for fear—'do not let your heart be soft,' 'do not be afraid,' 'do not be in alarm,' and 'do not be in dread'—are piled up for rhetorical force. The priest's war-speech deliberately overwhelms the soldiers' fear.
- Deuteronomy 20:8a The Hebrew word yimmas, translated 'become disheartened,' literally means 'melt.' Fear is contagious and would 'melt' the courage of the other soldiers, so the fearful are sent home before battle.
- Deuteronomy 20:10a The Hebrew phrase veqara'ta eleha leshalom, translated 'An offer of peace,' refers to a required summons to terms before besieging a city. Verses 15-18 limit this offer to distant cities; the Canaanite nations within the land fall under the separate ḥerem command of verses 16-18.
- Deuteronomy 20:13a This is the rule for distant cities (verse 15) that refuse peace: the adult males are killed, while women, children, and livestock are taken as plunder (verse 14). This rule was harsher than ancient siege custom in some respects and milder in others. The ethics and theology of biblical warfare law are not decided in this draft and are reserved for further review.
- Deuteronomy 20:14a Women, children, and livestock of a distant city are taken as spoil rather than killed. The Hebrew verb tavoz, translated 'take as plunder,' and the treatment of captives are weighty matters and are reserved for further review (see note at verse 13).
- Deuteronomy 20:16a This is the ḥerem command (verse 17): the Canaanite nations within the promised land are devoted to total destruction, meaning 'do not leave alive anything that breathes' (lo' techayyeh kol neshamah). This is among the most morally and theologically contested commands in the Hebrew Bible. The faithful text is given here without softening; the question of its meaning, scope (often debated as hyperbolic ancient war rhetoric), and theology is not decided in this draft and are reserved for further review.
- Deuteronomy 20:17a The Hebrew phrase hacharem tacharimem, translated 'Completely destroy them,' is a doubled ḥerem verb meaning 'devote to destruction.' The six named nations are the standard list of the pre-Israelite peoples of Canaan. The command's ethics and theology are reserved for further review (see note at verse 16).
- Deuteronomy 20:18a The stated reason for the ḥerem command is to prevent Israel from being drawn into the surrounding peoples' worship. The text gives this reason without resolving the moral and theological questions, which are reserved for further review (see note at verse 16).
- Deuteronomy 20:19a The closing rhetorical question is famously difficult: 'for is the tree of the field a man, to come (be besieged) before you?' The sense is that fruit trees are not your enemy and must not be treated as combatants. This is the source of an early principle against wanton destruction in war. The Hebrew is terse, and the rendering preserves the question form.
About this translation
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