o H1 t1 1. War.
u1 2-8. Enemy. Proclamation.
v1 9. Action as to leaders.
H2 t2 10-. War.
u2 -10,11. Enemy. Proclamation to city.
v2 12. Action. Siege.
H3 t3 13-. War.
u3 -13,14. Enemy. Treatment.
v3 15. Action towards distant cities.
H4 t4 16-. War. Canaanite nations.
u4 -16,17. Enemy. Treatment.
v4 18. Action towards them.
H5 t5 19-. War. Any siege
u5 -19. Treatment as to trees.
v5 20. Action as to other trees.1452 B.C.
Deuteronomy 20)
1: When you go out to battle against your enemies (Heb. text has it in the singular), and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, be not afraid of them: for the Lord your is with you, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
2: And it shall be, when you all are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,
3: And shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you all approach this day to battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be you all terrified because of them (= be exited, Heb. = make haste);
4: For the Lord your God is He that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies (cp. Ex. 14:25. Ps.3:5; 35:1), to save you.'
5: And the officers shall speak to 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 he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
6: And what man is he that has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.
7: And what man is there that has betrothed 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: And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, 'What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.'
9: And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
10: When you come near to a city to fight against it,
then proclaim peace to it (i.e. if it does not belong to the Canaanites. Cp. 2 Sam.20:18,19. Matt.10:12,13).
11: And it shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries to you, and they shall serve you.
12: And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:
13: And when the Lord your God has delivered it into your hands,
you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take to yourself (= take a prey. These two words "spoil" and "prey", occur in the name Maher-shalalhash-baz. Isa.8:1); and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.
15: Thus shall you do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16: But of the cities of these people, which the Lord your God does give you for an inheritance,
you shall save alive nothing that breaths:
17: But you shall utterly destroy them (because they were the descendants of the Nephlim. See Gen.6:2,4); namely (only 6 mentioned here), the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; according as the Lord your God has commanded you:
18: That (= to the intent that) they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so should you all sin against the Lord your God (Idolatry was, and still is, the great sin. Cp. Gal.5:20).
19: When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,
you shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down {for the tree of the field is mankind's life} to employ them in the siege:
20: Only the trees which you know that they be not trees for meat, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it be subdued.