Deuteronomy 20: Rules for going to war

In plain English: When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them, because Yahweh your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

In plain English: When you come near to the battle, the priest is to come forward and speak to the people.

In plain English: He is to say to them, "Hear, Israel: today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart. Do not be afraid, do not panic, and do not be terrified of them,

Good to know: The priest begins with "Hear, Israel", the same words that begin Deuteronomy 6:4.

In plain English: because Yahweh your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies and to save you."

In plain English: The officers are to speak to the people and say, "Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, or he may die in the battle and another man dedicate it.

The Hebrew word: "Dedicated" is chanak, which the dictionary gives as "properly, to narrow; figuratively, to initiate or discipline".

How it is translated: The word is in only 4 verses of the Bible. This Bible says "dedicated" or a longer form in 3 of them: here, and for the temple in Solomon's day in 1 Kings 8:63 and 2 Chronicles 7:5. In Proverbs 22:6 it says "train up a child".

In plain English: Is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not yet used its fruit? Let him go back to his house, or he may die in the battle and another man use its fruit.

The Hebrew word: "Used its fruit" is chalal, which the dictionary gives as "to profane", and also "to begin". Here it means to start eating from the vineyard. Leviticus 19:23 to 25 says the fruit of a new tree is not eaten for three years, is holy in the fourth year, and is eaten in the fifth.

In plain English: Is there any man who is engaged to a woman and has not yet married her (literally: taken her)? Let him go back to his house, or he may die in the battle and another man marry her."

Good to know: Deuteronomy 24:5 gives a like rule: a newly married man is not to go out with the army for one year.

In plain English: The officers are to speak further to the people and say, "Is there any man who is afraid and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, so that his brother's heart does not melt like his heart."

In plain English: When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders of the armies to lead the people.

In plain English: When you come near a city to fight against it, call out to it with an offer of peace (literally: call to it for peace).

In plain English: If it answers with peace and opens to you, then all the people found in it are to become forced laborers for you and serve you.

The Hebrew word: "Forced laborers" is mas, which the dictionary gives as "a tax in the form of forced labor". This Bible says "forced" in 16 of the 22 verses that use the word.

In plain English: But if it will not make peace with you and makes war against you, then you are to lay siege to it.

In plain English: When Yahweh your God gives it into your hand, you are to kill every male in it with the sword (literally: with the mouth of the sword).

In plain English: But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its plunder, you may take for yourselves. You may use (literally: eat) the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you.

In plain English: That is what you are to do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of these nations here.

In plain English: But in the cities of these peoples, which Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you are not to leave alive anything that breathes.

In plain English: You are to destroy them completely (or: devote them to destruction): the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as Yahweh your God has commanded you,

The Hebrew word: "Utterly destroy" is charam, the same word as in Deuteronomy 2:34, 3:6 and 7:2. The dictionary gives it as "to seclude; specifically (by a ban) to devote to religious uses (especially destruction)". The Hebrew repeats the word for force.

How it is translated: In Deuteronomy this Bible says "destroy" or a longer form in all 5 verses that use charam. In the whole Bible it says "destroy" or a longer form in 42 of its 48 verses, and "devote" or a longer form in 4.

Good to know: Verses 16 to 18 say plainly that no one in these six nations is to be left alive, and verse 18 gives the reason the text states. It is war law of that time as the text records it. Jewish and Christian readers differ on how to read it now.

In plain English: so that they do not teach you to do all the detestable things they have done for their gods, and so you sin against Yahweh your God.

In plain English: When you besiege a city for a long time, fighting against it to take it, you are not to destroy its trees by swinging an ax against them, because you may eat from them. Do not cut them down. Is the tree of the field a man, that you should besiege it? (or: For the tree of the field is for man.)

The Hebrew words: The end of the verse is short in Hebrew: literally "for the man the tree of the field, to go before you in siege".

What changes: Read as a question, as this Bible has it: "Is the tree a man, that you should besiege it?" The tree is not an enemy, so it should not be attacked. Read as a statement: "For the tree of the field is for man", meaning it is there for people, who eat from it, as the verse has just said. The Hebrew allows both, and both keep the trees standing.

In plain English: Only the trees you know are not trees for food may you destroy and cut down, to build siege works against the city that is making war with you, until it falls.