Deuteronomy 20 (NET)

Deuteronomy 20:1¹When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:2²As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers,Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:3³“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,Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:4⁴for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.”Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:5⁵Moreover, 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.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:6⁶Or 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.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:7⁷Or 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.”Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:8⁸In 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.”Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:9⁹Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:10¹⁰When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:11¹¹If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:12¹²If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:13¹³The Lord your God will deliver it over to you, and you must kill every single male by the sword.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:14¹⁴However, 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 Lord your God has given you.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:15¹⁵This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:16¹⁶As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:17¹⁷Instead you must utterly annihilate them —the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites —just as the Lord your God has commanded you,Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:18¹⁸so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:19¹⁹If 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!Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s

Deuteronomy 20:20²⁰However, 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.Copy LinkCopy VerseKJV+Strong’s