Deuteronomy 20–22

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. ²And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, ³and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither ^cbe ye terrified because of them; ⁴for the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, ^cto fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵And ^dthe officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not ^ededicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. ⁶And 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. ^7fAnd what 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. ⁸And ^dthe officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, ^gWhat 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. ⁹And it shall be, when ^dthe officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

¹⁰When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, ^hthen proclaim peace unto it. ¹¹And 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 tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. ¹²And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: ¹³and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, ⁱthou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: ¹⁴but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and ^kthou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. ¹⁵Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. ¹⁶But ^lof the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: ¹⁷but 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: ¹⁸that ^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.

¹⁹When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof ^oby 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 ^pman’s life) to employ them in the siege: ²⁰only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build ^qbulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.

XXI.If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: ²then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: ³and it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley: ⁵and the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for ^athem the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and ^bby their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: ⁶and all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, ^cshall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: ⁷and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. ⁸Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, ^dand lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. ⁹So ^eshalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.

¹⁰When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, ¹¹and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; ¹²then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; ¹³and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and ^fbewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. ¹⁴And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not ^gmake merchandise of her, because thou hast ^hhumbled her.

¹⁵If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another ⁱhated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: ¹⁶then it shall be, ^kwhen he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: ¹⁷but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is ^lthe beginning of his strength; ^mthe right of the firstborn is his.

¹⁸If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: ¹⁹then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; ²⁰and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is ⁿa glutton, and a drunkard. ²¹And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: ^oso shalt thou put evil away from among you; ^pand all Israel shall hear, and fear.

²²And if a man have committed a sin ^qworthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: ^23rhis body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for ^she that is hanged is accursed of God;) that ^tthy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

XXII.Thou ^ashalt not see thy brother’s ox or his ^bsheep go astray, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. ²And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. ³In like manner shalt thou do with his ass; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother’s, which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise: thou mayest not hide thyself. ^4cThou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.

⁵The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God. ⁶If a bird’s nest chance to be before thee in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they be young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, ^dthou shalt not take the dam with the young: ⁷but thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; ^ethat it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days. ⁸When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. ⁹Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard ^fwith divers seeds: lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of thy vineyard, be defiled. ¹⁰Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. ¹¹Thou shalt not wear a garment ^gof divers sorts, as ^hof woollen and linen together. ¹²ⁱThou shalt make thee ^jfringes upon the four quarters of thy vesture, wherewith thou coverest thyself.

¹³If any man take a wife, and go in unto her, and hate her, ¹⁴and give occasions of speech against her, and bring up an evil name upon her, and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid: ¹⁵then shall the father of the damsel, and her mother, take and bring forth the tokens of the damsel’s virginity unto the elders of the city in the gate: ¹⁶and the damsel’s father shall say unto the elders, I gave my daughter unto this man to wife, and he hateth her; ¹⁷and lo, he hath given occasions of speech against her, saying, I found not thy daughter a maid; and yet these are the tokens of my daughter’s virginity. And they shall spread the cloth before the elders of the city. ¹⁸And the elders of that city shall take that man and chastise him; ¹⁹and they shall amerce him in an hundred shekels of silver, and give them unto the father of the damsel, because he hath brought up an evil name upon a virgin of Israel: and she shall be his wife; he may…