Parallel Bible results for "deuteronomy 20"

Deuteronomy 20

New International Reader's Version NIRV

1 When you go to war against your enemies, you might see that they have horses and chariots. They might even have an army that is stronger than yours. But don't be afraid of them. The LORD your God will be with you. After all, he brought you up out of Egypt.

2 Just before you go into battle, the priest will come forward. He'll speak to the army.

3 He'll say, "Men of Israel, listen to me. Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Don't be scared. Don't be afraid. Don't panic. Don't be terrified by them.

4 The LORD your God is going with you. He'll fight for you. He'll help you win the battle over your enemies."

5 The officers will speak to the army. They will say, "Has anyone built a new house and not started to live in it? Let him go home. If he doesn't, he might die in battle. Then someone else will live in his house.

6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not started to enjoy it? Let him go home. If he doesn't, he might die in battle. Then someone else will enjoy his vineyard.

7 Has anyone promised to get married to a woman but hasn't done it yet? Let him go home. If he doesn't, he might die in battle. Then someone else will marry her."

8 The officers will continue, "Is any man afraid? Is anyone scared? Let him go home. Then the other men won't lose hope too."

9 The officers will finish speaking to the army. When they do, they'll appoint commanders over it.

10 Suppose you march up to attack a city. Before you attack it, offer peace to its people.

11 Suppose they accept your offer and open their gates. Then force all of the people in the city to be your slaves. They will have to work for you.

12 But suppose they refuse your offer of peace and prepare for battle. Then surround that city. Get ready to attack it.

13 The LORD your God will hand it over to you. When he does, kill all of the men with your swords.

14 But you can take the women and children for yourselves. You can also take the livestock and everything else in the city. What you have captured from your enemies you can use for yourselves. The LORD your God has given it to you.

15 That's how you must treat all of the cities that are far away from you. Those cities don't belong to the nations that are nearby.

16 But what about the cities the LORD your God is giving you as your own? Kill everything in those cities that breathes.

17 Completely destroy them. Wipe out the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. That's what the LORD your God commanded you to do.

18 If you don't destroy them, they'll teach you to follow all of the things the LORD hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the LORD your God.

19 Suppose you surround a city and get ready to attack it. And suppose you fight against it for a long time in order to capture it. Then don't chop its trees down and destroy them. You can eat their fruit. So don't cut them down. The trees of the field aren't people. So why should you attack them?

20 But you can cut down trees that you know aren't fruit trees. You can build war machines out of their wood. You can use them until you capture the city you are fighting against.

New King James Version NKJV

1 "When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

2 So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people.

3 And he shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them;

4 for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.'

5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

6 Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.

7 And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.'

8 The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, 'What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.'

9 And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

10 "When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it.

11 And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.

12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword.

14 But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies' plunder which the Lord your God gives you.

15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 But of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,

17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,

18 lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.

19 "When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man's food.

20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued.