Deuteronomy 20 · Parashat Shoftim

When thou goest out to battle against thy enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more numerous than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Miżrayim.

And it shall be, when you are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, and shall say to them,

Hear, O Yisra᾽el, you draw near today to do battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, nor be terrified because of them;

for the Lord your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.

And what man is he that has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.

And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.

And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren’s heart melt like his heart.

And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

When thou comest near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it.

And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open to thee, then it shall be, that all the people to be found in it shall be tributaries to thee, and they shall serve thee.

And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

and when the Lord thy God has delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, all the spoil of it, shalt thou take to thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the Lord thy God has given thee.

Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

But of the cities of these peoples, which the Lord thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breathes:

but thou shalt utterly destroy them; the Ḥitti, and the Emori, the Kena῾ani, and the Perizzi, the Ḥivvi, and the Yevusi; as the Lord thy God has commanded thee:

that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so should you sin against the Lord your God.

When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy its trees by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayst eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by thee?

Only the trees which thou knowst that they be not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that makes war with thee, until it be subdued.