Deuteronomy 20

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest ^ahorses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is ^bwith thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ² And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, ³ And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; ⁴ For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, ^cto fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵ And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not ^ddedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. ⁶ And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. ⁷ And ^ewhat man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. ⁸ And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, ^fWhat man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. ⁹ And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

¹⁰ When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, ^gthen proclaim peace unto it. ¹¹ And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be ^htributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. ¹² And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: ¹³ And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, ⁱthou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: ¹⁴ But the women, and the little ones, and ^kthe cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and ^jthou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. ¹⁵ Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. ¹⁶ But ^lof the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: ¹⁷ But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: ¹⁸ That ^mthey teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye ⁿsin against the LORD your God.

¹⁹ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: ²⁰ Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

Deuteronomy 21