(KJV) Deuteronomy 201

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⥃Laws of Warfare

[1] When thou goest out2 to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses3, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord4 thy God [is] with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. [2] And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,5 [3] And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not6 your hearts faint7, fear not, and do not tremble8, neither be ye terrified9 because of them; [4] For the Lord your God [is] he that goeth with you, to fight10 for you against your enemies, to save you.

[5] [¶]And the officers11 shall speak unto the people, saying, What man [is there] that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated12 it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. [6] And what man [is he] that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not [yet] eaten of it13? let him [also] go and return unto his house, lest he die14 in the battle, and another man eat of it. [7] And what man [is there] that hath betrothed a wife15, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die16 in the battle, and another man take her. [8] And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man [is there that is] fearful17 and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s18 heart faint19 as well as his heart. [9] And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people20.

[10] When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim21 peace unto it. [11] And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, [that] all the people [that is] found therein shall be tributaries22 unto thee, and they shall serve thee. [12] And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: [13] And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite23 every male thereof with the edge of the sword: [14] But the women24, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, [even] all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself25; and thou shalt eat26 the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. [15] Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities [which are] very far off from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations. [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:27 [17] But thou shalt28 utterly destroy them; [namely], the Hittites29, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: [18] That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God.30

[19] [¶]When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not31 destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree32 of the field [is] man’s [life]) to employ33 [them] in the siege: [20] Only the trees which thou knowest that they [be] not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build34 bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued35.

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  1. Deut 20:1, The priest’s exhortation to encourage the people to battle; Deut 20:5, The officers’ proclamation of who are to be dismissed from the war; Deut 20:10, How to use the cities that accept or refuse the proclamation of peace; Deut 20:16, What cities must be devoted; Deut 20:19, Trees of man’s meat must not be destroyed in the siege. ↩

  2. Deut 3:21-22, Deut 7:1 ↩

  3. Josh 10:5-8, Josh 11:4-6, Josh 11:9; Judg 4:3-9; 2Chr 14:11, 2Chr 20:12; Ps 20:7; Ps 33:16-17; Isa 31:1, Isa 37:24-25 ↩

  4. Deut 2:7, Deut 31:6, Deut 31:8; Gen 26:3; Num 23:21; Josh 1:5, Josh 1:9; Judg 6:12; 2Chr 32:7-8; Ps 46:7, Ps 46:11, Ps 118:6; Isa 7:14, Isa 8:9-10, Isa 43:2; Rom 8:31 ↩

  5. Num 10:8-9, Num 31:6; Judg 20:27-28; 1Sam 14:18, 1Sam 30:7-8; 2Chr 13:12 ↩

  6. Ps 27:1-3; Isa 35:3-4, Isa 41:10-14; Matt 10:16, Matt 10:28, Matt 10:31; Eph 6:11-18; 1Thess 5:15; Heb 12:12-13; Rev 2:10 ↩

  7. Heb. be tender ↩

  8. Heb. make haste, Isa 28:16 ↩

  9. Ps 3:6; Isa 8:12-13, Isa 57:7-8; Matt 8:26; Mark 16:6, Mark 16:18; Acts 18:9-10, Acts 27:24; 1Tim 6:12; Heb 13:6 ↩

  10. Deut 1:30, Deut 3:22, Deut 11:25, Deut 32:30; Exod 14:14; Josh 10:42, Josh 23:10; 2Chr 13:12; 2Chr 32:7-8; Ps 144:1-2; Rom 8:37 ↩

  11. Deut 1:15, Deut 16:18; Num 31:14, Num 31:48; 1Sam 17:18 ↩

  12. Neh 12:27; Ps 30:1 *title ↩

  13. Heb. made it common, Deut. 28:1-30:20; Lev 19:23-25; Jer 31:5 ↩

  14. Isa 65:22; Zeph 1:13 ↩

  15. It was customary among the Jews to contract matrimony, espouse, or betroth, and for a considerable time to leave the parties in the houses of the respective parents; and when the bridegroom had made proper preparations, then the bride was brought home to his house, and the marriage consummated. The provisions in this verse refer to a case of this kind; though the Jews extend it to him who had newly consummated his marriage, and even to him who had married his brother's wife. It was deemed a peculiar hardship for a person to be obliged to go to battle, who had left a house unfinished, newly purchased land half tilled, or a wife with whom he had just contracted marriage. Deut 22:23-25, Deut 24:5; Matt 1:18 ↩

  16. Deut 28:30; Luke 14:18-20; 2Tim 2:4 ↩

  17. Deut 1:28, Deut 23:9; Judg 7:3; Luke 9:62; Acts 15:37-38; Rev 3:16, Rev 21:8 ↩

  18. Num 13:31-33, Num 14:1-3, Num 32:9; 1Cor 15:33 ↩

  19. Heb. melt, Deut 1:28 *marg. Exod 15:15 ↩

  20. Heb. to be in the head of the people, Deut 20:9 ↩

  21. 2Sam 20:18-22; Isa 57:19; Zech 9:10; Luke 10:5-6; Acts 10:36; 2Cor 5:18-21, 2Cor 6:1; Eph 2:17 ↩

  22. Lev 25:42-46; Josh 9:22-23, Josh 9:27, Josh 11:19-20, Josh 16:10; Judg 1:28, Judg 1:30-35; 1Kgs 9:21-22; Ps 120:7; Luke 19:14 ↩

  23. Num 31:7-9, Num 31:17-18; 1Kgs 11:15-16; Ps 2:6-12, Ps 21:8-9, Ps 110:1; Luke 19:27; 2Thess 1:7-9 ↩

  24. Num 31:9, Num 31:12, Num 31:18, Num 31:35-54; Josh 8:2, Josh 11:14; 2Chr 14:13-15, 2Chr 20:25; Ps 68:12; Rom 8:37 ↩

  25. Heb. spoil ↩

  26. Josh 22:8 ↩

  27. Deut 7:1-4, Deut 7:16; Num 21:2-3, Num 21:35, Num 33:52; Josh 6:17-21, Josh 9:24, Josh 9:27, Josh 10:28, Josh 10:40; Josh 11:11-12, Josh 11:14 ↩

  28. Isa 34:5-6; Jer 48:10, Jer 50:35-40; Ezek 38:21-23; Rev 19:18 ↩

  29. Deut 7:1 ↩

  30. Deut 7:4-5, Deut 12:30-31, Deut 18:19; Exod 23:33; Josh 23:13; Judg 2:3; Ps 106:34-40; 1Cor 15:33; 2Cor 6:17; Eph 5:11; 2Thess 3:14; 1Tim 6:5; 2Tim 2:17-18; Rev 18:3-5 ↩

  31. Matt 3:10, Matt 7:15-20, Matt 21:19; Luke 13:7-9; John 15:2-8 ↩

  32. etc. or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be employed in the siege, The original is exceedingly difficult. The LXX has it, "Is the tree in the field a man, to enter the trench before thee?" The Latin Vulgate: "For it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of those who war against thee;" Onkelos, "For the tree of the field is not as a man, that it should come against thee in the siege;" and to the same purpose the Arabic, Philo, and Josephus who say, "If trees could speak, they would cry out, that it is unjust that they, who were no cause of the war, should suffer the miseries of it." However rendered, the sense is sufficiently clear, and it is a merciful provision to spare all the fruit trees for the support of both the besieged and besiegers. Deut 26:6 ↩

  33. etc. Heb. to go from before thee ↩

  34. Deut 1:28; 2Chr 26:15; Eccl 9:14; Isa 37:33; Jer 6:6, Jer 33:4; Ezek 17:17 ↩

  35. Heb. come down ↩