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Chapter 20 |
| 1 | When thou
goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and
a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with
thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. |
| 2 | And it shall
be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and
speak unto the people, |
| 3 | And 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 be ye terrified because of them;
|
| 4 | For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you
against your enemies, to save you. |
| 5 | And the officers shall speak
unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and
hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man dedicate it. |
| 6 | And 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.
|
| 7 | And 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. |
| 8 | And the officers shall speak further unto the
people, and they shall say, What 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. |
|
9 | And it shall be, when the officers have made an end
of speaking unto the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead
the people. |
|
10 | When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against
it, then proclaim peace unto it. |
| 11 | And 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. |
| 12 |
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war
against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: |
|
13 | And when the LORD thy God
hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with
the edge of the sword: |
| 14 | But 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 thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the
LORD thy God hath given thee. |
|
15 | Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities
which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these
nations. |
| 16
| But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God
doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
breatheth: |
| 17
| But 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: |
| 18 | That
they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done
unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19 | When
thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it,
thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by 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 man's life) to employ them in the siege: |
| 20 | Only the
trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy
and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh
war with thee, until it be subdued. |
