Deuteronomy 20

₁Moses said: ‘When you go to war_against your enemies and you see that their horses, war-chariots and men are more than yours, then you must not be afraid of them because the Lord your God is with you. He is the Lord your God who saved you from the land of Egypt. ₂When you are ready to go to war, the priest must come and talk to your men. ₃He must say to them: “Men of Israel, listen to me. You are ready to go to war_against your enemies. Do not become afraid or discouraged. Do not fear them or tremble, ₄because the Lord your God goes with you to help you when you go to war_against your enemies. He will help you win.”

₅The officers must then ask the men: “Who among you has built a new house but has not lived in it yet? He must go back to his house, because if he dies in the war, another man will go and live in his house that he has not lived in. ₆And who among you has planted a vineyard but has not eaten the fruit? He must go back to his home because if he dies in the war, another man will eat those grapes. ₇And who among you is engaged to a woman, but has not married her? He must go back home because if he dies in the war, another man will marry that woman.”

₈The officers must also ask the men: “Who among you are discouraged or afraid? They must go back home so that they will not make the other men discouraged too.”

₉After the officers have talked to the men, they must choose captains to be the leaders of the army.

₁₀When you are ready to go to war_against a town or city, you must ask those people who live there if they want to make peace. ₁₁If they say they want to make peace and they open the gates of the town for you to come in, then they must become your slaves and always work for you. ₁₂If they don't want to make peace and they want to fight against you, then you must attack their town. ₁₃And if the Lord your God helps you defeat them, then you must kill all their men. ₁₄You must take the women, children, animals and everything in the town for yourselves. You may use everything that your enemies had. The Lord your God gives it to you. ₁₅This is what you must do with all the towns and cities that are far away, but you must not do the same with the towns of these people near you. ₁₆No, in the towns of these nations near you that the Lord your God gives you to belong to you, you must kill everyone and keep no one alive. ₁₇You must destroy all of them and let no one live, as the Lord your God told you. The Hittite people, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites must all die. ₁₈If you do not kill them, they will teach you to do all the bad things that they do for their gods. The Lord hates those things and you must not sin_against the Lord your God.

₁₉If you attack a city and you go to war_against the people but it takes a long time for you to come into the city and you besiege it, do not cut down the trees. The trees are not your enemies. Keep the trees so that you can eat their fruit. ₂₀You may cut down trees only if you know that they will never have fruit. You may cut down those trees and use them when you attack a city to make a ramp to get into the city until the people of the city open their gates to you.’