CINXE.COM

<!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 NET 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> <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=G-LR4HSKRP2H"></script> <script> window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);} gtag('js', new Date()); gtag('config', 'G-LR4HSKRP2H'); </script><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="../">NET Bible</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 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">NET Bible</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/net/esv/deuteronomy/20.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="title">Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies</p><p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>“Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>for the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s heart as fearful as his own.” <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops.</p> <p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>The <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God has given you. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.</p> <p class="title">Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations</p><p class="bodytext"><span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>As for the cities of these peoples that the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Instead you must utterly annihilate them – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites – just as the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God has commanded you, <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the <span class="smallcaps">Lord</span> your God. <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! <span class="reftext"><a href="/deuteronomy/20-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><a href="http://netbible.com/">NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com.<br />Used by permission. All rights reserved.</a><br /><br /><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></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></td></tr></table></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/deuteronomy/20-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe src="//biblemenus.com/adframe120.htm" width="122" height="602" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe><br /><br /></td></tr></table></div></div></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="/botmenubhnm2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe><div align="center"><span class="p"><br /><br /><br /></span></div></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>