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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Deuteronomy 20 Amplified Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/deuteronomy/20.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/deuteronomy/20-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">AMP</a> > Deuteronomy 20</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="../menu.htm" width="100%" height="48" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../deuteronomy/19.htm" title="Deuteronomy 19">◄</a> Deuteronomy 20 <a href="../deuteronomy/21.htm" title="Deuteronomy 21">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">Amplified Bible</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nas/esv/deuteronomy/20.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Verses"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><p class="hdg">Laws of Warfare</p><p><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>“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. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>When you approach the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: you are advancing today to battle against your enemies. Do not lack courage. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble [in terror] before them, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>The officers shall also speak to the <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[a]</a></span>soldiers, saying, ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not yet <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[b]</a></span>dedicated it? <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[c]</a></span>Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>What man has planted a vineyard and has not put it to use [harvesting its fruit]? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>And who is the man who is engaged (legally promised) to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Then the officers shall speak further to the soldiers and say, ‘Who is the man who is afraid and lacks courage? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not cause his brothers’ courage to fail like his own.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>And it shall be when the officers have finished speaking to the soldiers, they shall appoint commanders of armies over them. <p class="paragraph"><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>“When you advance to a city to fight against it, you shall [first] offer it terms of peace. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>If that city accepts your terms of peace and opens <i>its gates</i> to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall lay siege to it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike down all the men in it with the edge of the sword. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>Only the women and the children and the animals and everything that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>That is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far away from you, which are not among the cities of these nations nearby [which you are to dispossess]. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Only 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. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>so that they will not teach you to act in accordance with all the detestable practices which they have done [in worship and service] for their gods, and in this way cause you to sin against the LORD your God. <p class="paragraph"><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>“When you besiege a city for <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[d]</a></span>a long time, making war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its [fruit-bearing] 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 (destroyed) by you? <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Only the trees which you know are not <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[e]</a></span>fruit trees shall you destroy and cut down, so that you may build <span class="fn"><a href="#fn">[f]</a></span>siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.<A name="fn"></a></p><br /><br /><span class="footnotesbot">[a]</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> Lit <i>people</i> and so throughout.<br><span class="footnotesbot">[b]</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> I.e. to the temple. The rabbis said that ownership of a house was required for dedication. Here, dedication seems to have established ownership when the original owner died.<br><span class="footnotesbot">[c]</span> <span class="fnverse">5</span> The point of the admonitions in vv 5-8 is that with the Lord’s help, Israel would have no need of a large military force, and the officers could afford to dismiss anyone who was not completely prepared for battle.<br><span class="footnotesbot">[d]</span> <span class="fnverse">19</span> Lit <i>many days</i>.<br><span class="footnotesbot">[e]</span> <span class="fnverse">20</span> Lit <i>trees for eating</i>.<br><span class="footnotesbot">[f]</span> <span class="fnverse">20</span> I.e. battering rams, ladders, towers, etc.<br></div><br /><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015<br>by The Lockman Foundation<br>All rights reserved <a href="http://www.lockman.org">www.lockman.org</a><br><br><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br>                                                                                                                                <span class="p"><br /><br /></span></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../deuteronomy/19.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Deuteronomy 19"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Deuteronomy 19" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../deuteronomy/21.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Deuteronomy 21"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Deuteronomy 21" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script></div><div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchapnoad.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>