20:1 When thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God [is] with thee, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
20:2 And it shall be, when ye are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people,
20:3 And shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day to battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
20:4 For the LORD your God [is] he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
20:5 And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man [is there] that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should dedicate it.
20:6 And what man [is he] that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not [yet] eaten of it? let him [also] go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle, and another man should eat of it.
20:7 And what man [is there] that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he should die in battle, and another man should take her.
20:8 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 brethrens heart should faint as well as his heart.
20:9 And it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
20:10 When thou comest near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.
20:11 And it shall be, if it shall make thee answer of peace, and open to thee, then it shall be, [that] all the people [that are] found in it shall be forced labourers to thee, and they shall serve thee.
20:12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
20:13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:
20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [even] all the spoil of it, shalt thou take to thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
20:15 Thus shalt thou do to all the cities [which are] very distant from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations.
20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee [for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; [namely], the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
20:18 That they may not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
20:19 When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees of it by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field [is] mans [life]) to employ [them] in the siege:
20:20 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 maketh war with thee, until it shall be subdued.