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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. |