Deuteronomy 20 (NET)

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry1 and troops2 who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. 2 As you move forward for battle, the priest3 will approach and say to the soldiers,4 3 “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, 4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.”5 5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops,6 “Who among you7 has built a new house and not dedicated8 it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else9 dedicate it. 6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. 7 Or who among you10 has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” 8 In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s11 heart as fearful12 as his own.” 9 Then, when the officers have finished speaking,13 they must appoint unit commanders14 to lead the troops.

10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 11 If it accepts your terms15 and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.16 12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you17 and you must kill every single male by the sword. 14 However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city – all its plunder – you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you. 15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.

Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations

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. 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, 18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship27 their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 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 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.

120:1tn Heb “horse and chariot.” 220:1tn Heb “people.” 320:2sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8). 420:2tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.” 520:4tn Or “to save you” (so KJV, NASB, NCV); or “to deliver you.” 620:5tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9). 720:5tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8). 820:5tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חָנֻכָּה, khanukah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61). 920:5tn Heb “another man.” 1020:7tn Heb “Who [is] the man.” 1120:8tn Heb “his brother’s.” 1220:8tn Heb “melted.” 1320:9tn The Hebrew text includes “to the people,” but this phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons. 1420:9tn Heb “princes of hosts.” 1520:11tn Heb “if it answers you peace.” 1620:11tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1). 1720:13tn Heb “to your hands.” 1820:16tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.” 1920:16tn Heb “any breath.” 2020:17tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”sn The Hebrew verb refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. See also the note on the phrase “the divine judgment” in Deut 2:34. 2120:17sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.). 2220:17sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts. 2320:17sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt. 2420:17sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30). 2520:17sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12). 2620:17tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).sn Jebusite. These people inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16). 2720:18tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.” 2820:19tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.” 2920:19tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax). 3020:19tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity. 3120:19tn Heb “to go before you in siege.” 3220:20tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.” 3320:20tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.