Deuteronomy 20:12

12 But if they will not hearken to thee, but wage war against thee, thou shalt invest it;

Deuteronomy 20:12 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:12

And if it will make no peace with thee
Will not accept of terms of peace offered:

but will make war against thee;
come out and fight, or prepare to defend themselves: then thou shall besiege it; surround and block it up on all sides with their forces; the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit; (See Gill on Numbers 31:7).

Deuteronomy 20:12 In-Context

10 And if thou shalt draw nigh to a city to overcome them by war, then call them out peaceably.

11 If then they should answer peaceably to thee, and open to thee, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary and subject to thee.

12 But if they will not hearken to thee, but wage war against thee, thou shalt invest it;

13 until the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, and thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

14 except the women and the stuff: and all the cattle, and whatsoever shall be in the city, and all the plunder thou shalt take as spoil for thyself, and shalt eat all the plunder of thine enemies whom the Lord thy God gives thee.