Deuteronomy 20 :: New International Version (NIV)

Going to War

Deu 20:1When 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.

Deu 20:2

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

Deu 20:3

Deu 20:3He 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.

Deu 20:4

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

Deu 20:5

Deu 20:5The 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.

Deu 20:6

Deu 20:6Has 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.

Deu 20:7

Deu 20:7Has 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.”

Deu 20:8

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

Deu 20:9

Deu 20:9When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

Deu 20:10

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

Deu 20:11

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

Deu 20:12

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

Deu 20:13

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

Deu 20:14

Deu 20:14As 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.

Deu 20:15

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

Deu 20:16

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

Deu 20:17

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

Deu 20:18

Deu 20:18Otherwise, 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.

Deu 20:19

Deu 20:19When 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]

Deu 20:20

Deu 20:20However, 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

(20:17)

The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them.

(20:19)

Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.

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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

Deuteronomy 20 :: New International Version (NIV)

Going to War

NIV Footnotes

Deuteronomy Chapter 20 — Additional Translations:

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