Deuteronomy 20:13-20

13 And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the {edge} of [the] sword.

14 Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you.

15 Thus you shall do to all the far cities from you, which [are] not from the cities of these nations located {nearby}.

16 But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God [is] giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.

17 Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, [just] as Yahweh your God has commanded you,

18 so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and [thereby] you sin against Yahweh your God.

19 "If you besiege a town [for] many days to make war against it [in order to] seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them, for you may eat from them, and [so] you must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege {against you}?

20 Only the trees that you know {are not fruit trees} you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you {until it falls}."

Deuteronomy 20:13-20 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "mouth"
• [b]. Hebrew "animal"
• [c]. Or "distant"
• [d]. Literally "here"
• [e]. Or "is alive"
• [f]. Hebrew "Hittite"
• [g]. Hebrew "Amorite"
• [h]. Hebrew "Canaanite"
• [i]. Hebrew "Perizzite"
• [j]. Hebrew "Hivite"
• [k]. Hebrew "Jebusite"
• [l]. Or "when"
• [m]. Hebrew "it"
• [n]. Hebrew "it"
• [o]. Hebrew "it"
• [p]. Literally "from your face"
• [q]. Or "But"
• [r]. Hebrew "tree"
• [s]. Literally "not a tree of food"
• [t]. Literally "it to fall"