1 “ When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

¶ When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seest horses and chariots and a people more than thou, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

2 W hen you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people.

And it shall be, when ye are come near unto the battle that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people

3 H e shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them,

and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies; let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them,

4 f or the Lord your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

for the LORD your God is he that goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

5 T he officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

6 W ho is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit.

And who has planted a vineyard and has not yet eaten of it? Let him also go and return unto his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man eat of it.

7 A nd who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’

And what man is there that has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go and return unto his house lest peradventure he die in the battle and another man take her.

8 T hen the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘ Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart.’

And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and a coward at heart? Let him go and return unto his house that he not cause his brethren’s hearts to become as his heart.

9 W hen the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

And it shall be when the officers have finished speaking unto the people that the captains of the armies shall lead before the people.

10 “ When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace.

¶ When thou comest near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

11 I f it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

And it shall be, if it makes thee an answer of peace and opens unto thee, that all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

12 H owever, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

And if it will make no peace with thee but will make war against thee, and if thou should besiege it,

13 W hen the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

and if the LORD thy God should deliver it into thine hands, then thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword.

14 O nly the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the Lord your God has given you.

Only the women and the little ones and the animals and all that is in the city, all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat of the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God has given thee.

15 T hus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby.

Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these Gentiles.

16 O nly in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes.

Only of the cities of these peoples, which the LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breathes;

17 B ut you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you,

but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD thy God has commanded thee,

18 s o that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.

that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they do unto their gods, lest ye should sin against the LORD your God.

19 “ When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you?

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them, for thou may eat of them; and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege.

20 O nly the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.

Only the trees which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that makes war with thee, until it is subdued.