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Deuteronomy 20:14-20

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14 1but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you 2shall take as plunder for yourselves. And 3you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.
15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here.
16 But 4in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
17 but 5you shall devote them to complete destruction, [a] the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded,
18 that 6they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you 7sin against the Lord your God.
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, 8you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you?
20 Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
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Deuteronomy 20:14-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 20

In this chapter rules are given to be observed in times of war. When a battle was near, a priest was to address the soldiers, and encourage them to fight, De 20:1-4, then the officers were to declare who might return home, De 20:5-9 when an enemy's city was approached, peace was to be proclaimed on certain conditions, which, if accepted of, the inhabitants were to be tributaries and servants, but if not, when taken, all were to be put to the sword, excepting women, children, and cattle, De 20:10-15, but those of the seven nations were to be utterly destroyed, De 20:16-18, and, during a siege, no trees bearing fruit fit for food were to be cut down, De 20:19.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible
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Cross References 8

  • 1. 20:14 Num. 31:9
  • 2. 20:14 Josh. 8:2
  • 3. 20:14 Josh. 22:8
  • 4. 20:16 ch. 7:1, 2; Num. 33:52; Josh. 11:14
  • 5. 20:17 See ch. 7:2
  • 6. 20:18 ch. 7:4; 12:30, 31; 18:9
  • 7. 20:18 Ex. 23:33
  • 8. 20:19 [2 Kgs. 3:19, 25]

Footnotes 1

  • [a] 20:17 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025

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