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The Blue Letter Bible

Deuteronomy 20 :: New International Version (NIV)

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Going to War

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:1

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:1 - When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:2

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:2 - When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:3

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:3 - He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:4

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:4 - For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:5

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:5 - The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:6

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:6 - Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:7

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:7 - Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:8

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:8 - Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:9

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:9 - When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:10

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:10 - When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:11

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:11 - If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:12

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:12 - If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:13

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:13 - When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:14

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:14 - As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:15

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:15 - This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:16

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:16 - However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:17

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:17 - Completely destroy[fn] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:18

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:18 - Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:19

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:19 - When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Deu 20:20

Unchecked Copy BoxDeu 20:20 - However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.
Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.
NIV

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV®
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®
Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.


See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the NIV Preface.

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Deuteronomy Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras