Deuteronomy 20–22

20“If you go out to war against your enemies and you see a horse and a chariot, an army^a larger than you, you shall not be afraid because of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, the one who brought you from the land of Egypt. ²And then^b when you approach the battle, then the priest shall come near and speak to the troops. ³And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, Israel, you are near today^c to the battle against your enemies; do not lose heart;^d you shall not be afraid, and you shall not panic, and you shall not be terrified because of them,^{e 4}for Yahweh your God is going with you to fight for you against your enemies to help you.’ ⁵And the officials shall speak to the troops, saying,^f ‘Who is the man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to this house, so that he does not die in battle and another man^g dedicates it. ⁶And who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed it? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man^h enjoys it. ⁷And who is the man who got engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and let him return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another manⁱ marries her.’ ⁸And the officials shall continue to speak to the troops, and they shall say, ‘What man^j is afraid and disheartened?^k Let him go, and let him return to his house, and let him not cause the heart of his brothers to melt^l like his.’ ⁹And when the officials have finished speaking^m to the army troops, then they shall appoint commanders of divisions at the head of the troops.

¹⁰“When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.^{n 11}And then^o if they accept your terms of peace^p and they surrender to you,^q and then^r all the people inhabiting it^s shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you. ¹²But if they do not accept your terms of peace^t and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.^{u 13}And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge^v of the sword. ¹⁴Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals^w and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh your God has given to you. ¹⁵Thus you shall do to all the far^x cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.^y

¹⁶But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.^{z 17}Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites^a and the Amorites,^b the Canaanites^c and the Perizzites,^d the Hivites,^e and the Jebusites,^f just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, ¹⁸so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹“If^g you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them,^h for you may eat from them,ⁱ and so you must not cut them^j down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against you?^{k 20}Only^l the trees^m that you know are not fruit treesⁿ you may destroy and you may cut down, and you may build siege works against that city that is making war with you until it falls.”^o

21“If someone slain is found in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you to take possession of it and is lying in the field, and it is not known who killed him,^{a 2}then your elders and your judges shall go out and shall measure the distance to the cities that are around the slain one. ³And then^b the nearest city to the slain one, the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd that has not been worked with in the field, that has not pulled a yoke, ⁴and the elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a wadi that flows with water all year^c and that has not been plowed and has not been sown; then there they shall break the neck of the heifer in the wadi.^{d 5}Then the priests, the descendants^e of Levi, shall come near, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to bless in the name of Yahweh, and every legal dispute and every case of assault will be subject to their ruling.^{f 6}And all of the elders of that city nearest to the slain person shall wash their hands over the heifer with the broken neck in the wadi.^{g 7}And they shall declare, and they shall say, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see what was done. ⁸Forgive your people, Israel, whom you redeemed, Yahweh, and do not allow^h the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel, and let them be forgiven with regard to blood.’ ⁹And so you shall purge the innocent blood from your midst, because you must do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹⁰“When you go out for battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God gives them into your hand, and you lead the captivesⁱ away, ¹¹and you see among the captives^j a woman beautiful in appearance, and you become attached to her and you want to take her as a wife, ¹²then you shall bring her into your household, and she shall shave her head, and she shall trim her nails. ¹³And she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from her, and she shall remain in your house, and she shall mourn her father and her mother a full month,^k and after this you may have sex with her,^l and you may marry her, and she may become your wife.^{m 14}And then if you do not take delight in her, then you shall let her go to do whatever she wants,ⁿ but you shall not treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored^o her.

¹⁵“If a man has two wives, and the one is loved and the other one is disliked and the one loved and the one that is disliked have borne for him sons, if it happens that the firstborn son belongs to the one that is disliked,^{p 16}nevertheless it will be the case that^q on the day of bestowing his inheritance upon his sons, he will not be allowed to treat as the firstborn son the son of the beloved wife in preference to^r the son of the disliked wife, who is the firstborn son. ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the firstborn son of the disliked wife by giving^s him a double portion of all that he has,^t for he is the firstfruit of his vigor;^u to him is the legal claim of the birthright.^v

¹⁸“If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son^w who does not listen to^x the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother, and they discipline him, and he does not obey^y them, ¹⁹then his father and his mother shall take hold of him, and they shall bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his town,^{z 20}and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he does not obey us,^a and he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ ²¹Then all the men of his city shall stone him with stones and let him die; and so you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all of Israel will hear, and they will fear.

²²“And if a man commits a sin punishable by death,^b and so he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, ²³his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God is one that is being hung; so you shall not defile your land^c that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.”

22“You shall not watch the ox of your neighbor or his sheep or goat straying and ignore them; certainly you shall return them to your neighbor. ²And if your countryman^a is not near you or you do not know who he is,^b then you shall bring it to your household,^c and it shall be^d with you until your countryman seeks after it,^e and you shall return it to him. ³And thus also you shall do regarding^f his donkey, and thus you shall do concerning^g his garment, and so you shall do with respect to^h all of the lost property of your countrymanⁱ that is lost from him and you find it; you are not allowed to withhold help.

⁴“You shall not see the donkey of your neighbor or his ox fallen on the road and you ignore them; certainly you must help them get up along with him.

⁵“The apparel of a man shall not be put on^j a woman, and a man shall not wear the clothing of a woman, because everyone who does these things is detestable to Yahweh your God.

⁶“If a bird’s nest is found before you^k on the road in any tree or on the ground, and there are chicks or eggs, and the mother is lying down on the chicks or the eggs, you shall not take the mother along with the young; ⁷you shall certainly let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourselves;^l do this so that it may go well^m for you and you may live long in the land.ⁿ

⁸“When you build a new house then^o you shall make a parapet wall^p for your roof, so that you will not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.^q

⁹“You shall not sow your vineyard with differing kinds of seed, so that you shall not forfeit the whole harvest,^r both the seed that you sowed and the yield of the vineyard.

¹⁰“You shall not plow with an ox and with a donkey yoked together.

¹¹“You shall not wear woven material made of wool and linen mixed together.

¹²“You shall make tassels for yourselves^s on the four corners of your clothing with which you cover yourself.

¹³“If a man takes a woman and he has sex with her,^t but he then dislikes her,^{u 14}and he accuses her falsely,^v and he defames her,^w and he says ‘This woman I took and I lay with her and I discovered that she was not a virgin,’^{x 15}then in defense the father of the young woman shall take, along with her mother, and together they must bring out the evidence of the virginity of the young woman to display it to the elders of the city at the city gate.^{y 16}And then the father of the young woman shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as wife, but he now dislikes^z her, ¹⁷and now look he has accused her falsely,^a saying, “I did not find your daughter a virgin,”^b but here is evidence of the virginity of my…