Deuteronomy 20:3

3 Thou, Israel, hear today, ye have battle against your enemies; your heart dread not, be ye not afeared; do not ye give stead, dread ye not them; (Hear, O Israel, today ye shall do battle against your enemies; but do not let your heart fear, and do not be afraid; do not ye give place to panic, and do not ye fear them;)

Deuteronomy 20:3 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 20:3

And shall say unto them, hear, O Israel
Exciting their attention to what he was about to say, and which, as Jarchi observes, was spoken in the holy tongue, or in the Hebrew language:

you approach this day unto battle against your enemies;
were marching or ready to march, preparing to engage with them, and a battle seemed near at hand:

let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye
terrified because of them;
many words are made use of to animate them against those fears which the strength, number, and appearance of their enemies, would be apt to cause in them. Jarchi observes, that here are four exhortations, answerable to four things which the kings of the nations do (in order to inject terror into their enemies); they shake their shields, to clash them one against another, that hearing their noise they may be afraid of them and flee; they prance their horses, and make them neigh, to cause the noise of the hoofs of their horses to be heard; they shout with their voices, and blow with their trumpets: and accordingly these several clauses are so interpreted in the Misnah {e}

``"and let not your hearts faint"; at the neighing of the horses, and the brightness of swords: "fear not"; at the clashing of shields: "and do not tremble"; at the sound of trumpets: "neither be ye terrified" at the voice of shouting;''

and no doubt but it takes in everything that has a tendency to cause fear, faintness, and dismay, which they are cautioned against.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Misn. Sotah, c. 8. sect. 1.

Deuteronomy 20:3 In-Context

1 If thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and thou seest a multitude of knights, and of chariots, and a greater multitude of the adversary('s) host than (what) thou hast, thou shalt not dread them; for thy Lord God is with thee, that led thee out of the land of Egypt. (If thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and thou seest a multitude of horsemen, and of chariots, and a greater multitude of the adversary's army than what thou hast, thou shalt not fear them; for the Lord thy God is with thee, who led thee out of the land of Egypt.)

2 Soothly when the battle nigheth now, the priest shall stand before the battle array, and thus he shall speak to the people (and he shall speak to the people thus),

3 Thou, Israel, hear today, ye have battle against your enemies; your heart dread not, be ye not afeared; do not ye give stead, dread ye not them; (Hear, O Israel, today ye shall do battle against your enemies; but do not let your heart fear, and do not be afraid; do not ye give place to panic, and do not ye fear them;)

4 for your Lord God is in the midst of you, and he shall fight for you against your adversaries, that he deliver you from peril. (for the Lord your God is in your midst, and he shall fight for you against your adversaries, so that he can save you from peril.)

5 But the leaders shall cry by all the companies, while the host shall hear, (and shall say,) Who is the man that hath builded a new house, and hath hallowed not it? go he and turn again into his house, lest peradventure he die in battle, and another man hallow it. (Then the leaders of the army shall say, in the hearing of all the people, Who is the man who hath built a new house, and hath not yet dedicated it? go he back, and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.)