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.
