Deuteronomy 20

20When 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, ye 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.