Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that18 the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing19 to survive. 20:17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them20—the Hittites,21 Amorites,22 Canaanites,23 Perizzites,24 Hivites,25 and Jebusites26—just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 20:18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship27 their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it,28 you must not chop down its trees,29 for you may eat fruit30 from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it!31 20:20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food,32 and you may use it to build siege works33 against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.