Previous Chapter Full Page Full Page Next Chapter

Deuteronomy 20 :: New American Standard Bible 2020 (NASB20)

Laws of Warfare

Deu 20:1

Deu 20:1

“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses, 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.

Deu 20:2

Deu 20:2“When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people.

Deu 20:3

Deu 20:3“He shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or be terrified by them,

Deu 20:4

Deu 20:4for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’

Deu 20:5

Deu 20:5“The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Who is the man that has built a new house but has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it.

Deu 20:6

Deu 20:6‘And who is the man that has planted a vineyard but has not [fn]put it to use? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man [fn]would put it to use.

Deu 20:7

Deu 20:7‘And who is the man that is [fn]betrothed to a woman and has not [fn]married her? Let him go and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would [fn]marry her.’

Deu 20:8

Deu 20:8“Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that [fn]he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his heart!’

Deu 20:9

Deu 20:9“And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people.

Deu 20:10

Deu 20:10

“When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall [fn]offer it terms of peace.

Deu 20:11

Deu 20:11“And if it [fn]agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and serve you.

Deu 20:12

Deu 20:12“However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

Deu 20:13

Deu 20:13“When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the [fn]men in it with the edge of the sword.

Deu 20:14

Deu 20:14“However, the women, the children, the animals, and everything that is in the city, all of its spoils, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall [fn]use the spoils of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you.

Deu 20:15

Deu 20:15“This is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations [fn]nearby.

Deu 20:16

Deu 20:16“Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave anything that breathes alive.

Deu 20:17

Deu 20:17“Instead, you shall [fn]utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you,

Deu 20:18

Deu 20:18so that they will not teach you to do [fn]all the same detestable practices of theirs which they have done for their gods, [fn]by which you would sin against the LORD your God.

Deu 20:19

Deu 20:19

“When you besiege a city for a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, so you shall not cut them down. For [fn]is the tree of the field a human, that it should [fn]be besieged by you?

Deu 20:20

Deu 20:20“Only the trees that you know [fn]are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, so that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war against you until it falls.
See the NASB20 Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NASB20 Footnotes
Lit treat(ed) it as common
Lit treat(ed) it as common
A betrothed couple was considered legally married, but did not yet live together
Lit taken
Lit take
As in LXX and other ancient versions; MT his brothers’ hearts do not melt like
Lit call to it for peace
Lit answers peace to you
Lit males
Lit eat
Lit here
Or put them under the ban
Lit according to all the detestable
Lit and you would
Read as interrogative with ancient versions; MT the tree of the field is man
Lit come before you in the siege
Lit that it is not a tree of food
Translation Copyright Logo

New American Standard Bible 2020
Copyright (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
All rights reserved
https://www.lockman.org/new-american-standard-bible-nasb/

The "NASB," "NAS," "New American Standard Bible," and "New American Standard" trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by The Lockman Foundation. Use of these trademarks requires the permission of The Lockman Foundation.

For Permission To Quote visit http://www.lockman.org

For more information on this translation, see the NASB20 Preface.

Deuteronomy Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible 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

Did You Know BLB Is User Supported?

Your partnership makes all we do possible. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today?

Remind Me
Dismiss