Deuteronomy 20

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 "When you go out to war against your enemies and you see horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid of them, for the LORD, your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, will be with you.	1 “If you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horsemen and chariots, and that the multitude of your adversary’s army is greater than your own, you shall not fear them. For the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, is with you.
2 "When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and say to the soldiers:	2 Then, as the battle now draws near, the priest shall stand before the front ranks, and he shall speak to the people in this manner:
3 'Hear, O Israel! Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Be not weakhearted or afraid; be neither alarmed nor frightened by them.	3 ‘Listen, O Israel! Today you engage in a battle against your enemies. Do not let your heart be overwhelmed with fear. Do not be apprehensive. Do not yield. You should have no dread of them.
4 For it is the LORD, your God, who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.'	4 For the Lord your God is in your midst, and he will contend against your enemies on your behalf, so that he may rescue you from peril.’
5 "Then the officials shall say to the soldiers, 'Is there anyone who has built a new house and not yet had the housewarming? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another dedicate it.	5 Likewise, the officers shall proclaim, throughout every company, in the hearing of the soldiers: ‘What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in the battle, and another man may dedicate it.
6 Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard and never yet enjoyed its fruits? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another enjoy its fruits in his stead.	6 What man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not yet caused it to be common, so that all may eat from it? Let him go, and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in the battle, and another man may carry out his office.
7 Is there anyone who has betrothed a woman and not yet taken her as his wife? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another take her to wife.'	7 What man is there, who has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go, and return to his house, lest perhaps he may die in battle, and another man may take her.’
8 In fine, the officials shall say to the soldiers, 'Is there anyone who is afraid and weakhearted? Let him return home, lest he make his fellows as fainthearted as himself.'	8 After these things have been declared, they shall add the remainder, and shall say to the people: ‘What man is there who is overwhelmed by fear and is fainthearted? Let him go, and return to his house, lest he cause the hearts of his brothers to fear, just as he himself has been thoroughly stricken with fear.’
9 "When the officials have finished speaking to the soldiers, military officers shall be appointed over the army.	9 And when the officers of the army have become silent, and have completed their speech, each one shall prepare his unit to wage war.
10 "When you march up to attack a city, first offer it terms of peace.	10 When, at any time, you approach a city to fight against it, you shall first offer peace to it.
11 If it agrees to your terms of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people to be found in it shall serve you in forced labor.	11 If they receive it, and open the gates to you, then all the people who are in it shall be saved, and they shall serve you by paying tribute.
12 But if it refuses to make peace with you and instead offers you battle, lay siege to it,	12 But if they are not willing to enter into an agreement, and they begin to act against you in warfare, then you shall besiege it.
13 and when the LORD, your God, delivers it into your hand, put every male in it to the sword;	13 And when the Lord your God will have delivered it into your hands, you shall strike down anyone who is in it, of the male gender, with the edge of the sword,
14 but the women and children and livestock and all else in it that is worth plundering you may take as your booty, and you may use this plunder of your enemies which the LORD, your God, has given you.	14 but not the women and young children, nor the cattle and the other things that are within the city. And you shall divide all the plunder to the soldiers, and you shall eat the spoils from your enemies, which the Lord your God will give to you.
15 "That is how you shall deal with any city at a considerable distance from you, which does not belong to the peoples of this land.	15 So shall you do to all the cities which are at a great distance from you, those which are not among the cities that you shall receive as a possession.
16 But in the cities of those nations which the LORD, your God, is giving you as your heritage, you shall not leave a single soul alive.	16 But among those cities which shall be given to you, you shall not permit anyone at all to live.
17 You must doom them all-the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites-as the LORD, your God, has commanded you,	17 Instead, you shall put them to death with the edge of the sword, specifically: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite, the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.
18 lest they teach you to make any such abominable offerings as they make to their gods, and you thus sin against the LORD, your God.	18 Otherwise, they may teach you to do all the abominations which they have committed for their own gods. And then you would sin against the Lord your God.
19 "When you are at war with a city and have to lay siege to it for a long time before you capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them. You may eat their fruit, but you must not cut down the trees. After all, are the trees of the field men, that they should be included in your siege?	19 When you will have besieged a city for a long time, and you will have encircled it with fortifications, so that you may fight against it, you shall not cut down trees from which one is able to eat, neither shall you cause devastation with axes to the surrounding region. For it is a tree, and not a man. It is not able to increase the number of those who are fighting against you.
20 However, those trees which you know are not fruit trees you may destroy, cutting them down to build siegeworks with which to reduce the city that is resisting you.	20 But if there are any trees which are not fruitful, but are wild, and if these are fit for other uses, then cut them down, and make machines, until you have captured the city that is contending against you.”