Parallel Bible results for "deuteronomy 20"

Deuteronomy 20

New International Version NIV

1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.

2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.

3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.

4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

5 The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it.

6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.

7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.”

8 Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.

11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.

12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.

13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.

14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.

15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.

17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you.

18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.

19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?

20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

The Message Bible MSG

1 When you go to war against your enemy and see horses and chariots and soldiers far outnumbering you, do not recoil in fear of them; God, your God, who brought you up out of Egypt is with you.

2 When the battle is about to begin, let the priest come forward and speak to the troops.

3 He'll say, "Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you're going to do battle with your enemies. Don't waver in resolve. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. Don't panic.

4 God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win."

5 Then let the officers step up and speak to the troops: "Is there a man here who has built a new house but hasn't yet dedicated it? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.

6 And is there a man here who has planted a vineyard but hasn't yet enjoyed the grapes? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man enjoy the grapes.

7 Is there a man here engaged to marry who hasn't yet taken his wife? Let him go home right now lest he die in battle and another man take her."

8 The officers will then continue, "And is there a man here who is wavering in resolve and afraid? Let him go home right now so that he doesn't infect his fellows with his timidity and cowardly spirit."

9 When the officers have finished speaking to the troops, let them appoint commanders of the troops who shall muster them by units.

10 When you come up against a city to attack it, call out, "Peace?"

11 If they answer, "Yes, peace!" and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you.

12 But if they don't settle for peace and insist on war, then go ahead and attack.

13 God, your God, will give them to you. Kill all the men with your swords.

14 But don't kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat - God, your God, gives it to you.

15 This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don't belong to the nations at hand.

16 But with the towns of the people that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it's different: don't leave anyone alive.

17 Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God, your God.

18 This is so there won't be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God, your God.

19 When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don't start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don't cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons?

20 The exception can be those trees which don't produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.