✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Deuteronomy 20

KJV · Chapter 20/34

1When 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.

2And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

3And 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;

4For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

5And 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.

6And 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.

7And 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.

8And 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.

9And 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.

10When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

11And 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.

12And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

13And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

14But 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.

15Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:

17But 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:

18That 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.

19When 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:

20Only 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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God establishes rules of warfare for Israel: priests encouraging the people before battle, exemptions from military service for those who built a new house, planted a vineyard, or were newly married, an offer of peace before laying siege to distant cities, yet total destruction of the Canaanite nations, and a prohibition against destroying fruit trees during sieges.

Explanation

The military exemptions for those with recent, important commitments (a new house, a vineyard, a recent marriage) show a practical concern for individual well-being even in times of national war, recognizing that certain life transitions deserved priority over immediate military duty. The distinction between war against distant cities (which first received an offer of peace) and the complete destruction ordered specifically against the Canaanite nations shows that this extreme policy of conquest was not a general principle of warfare for every situation, but a specific, limited measure, theologically tied to the idolatrous contamination of that particular territory. The prohibition against destroying fruit trees during military sieges ('for thou mayest eat of them') is considered by many historians one of the earliest recorded principles of environmental protection in wartime, anticipating modern concepts of ethical conduct in armed conflict.

Fun facts

  • The rhetorical question 'for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee?' (v. 19) is one of the earliest known expressions in world literature of a principle of environmental protection during military conflict, clearly distinguishing between human targets of war and non-combatant natural resources.
  • The military exemptions mentioned here (a new house, a new vineyard, a recent marriage) appear almost identically detailed later in chapter 24, showing how certain social priorities — protecting new homes and marriages — were so important that they deserved explicit repetition in the Law.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronomy 20:1It opens the laws of war with encouragement: even facing a larger army, with horses and chariots, there is no reason for fear, because God is with the people.
  2. Deuteronomy 20:2Before the battle, it is the priest who steps forward to speak directly to the soldiers.
  3. Deuteronomy 20:3The priest’s speech is one of encouragement: asking that hearts not grow faint or be terrified in the face of the enemy.
  4. Deuteronomy 20:4The reason for the encouragement is reinforced: it is God Himself who will fight alongside the people to save them.
  5. Deuteronomy 20:5Before a battle, four kinds of men were excused: whoever had built a new house and not yet dedicated it, whoever had planted a vineyard and not yet eaten its fruit, whoever was engaged and not yet married, and whoever was afraid. The idea seems to be not mixing distracted soldiers in with the rest of the army, as well as sparing those with recent life commitments.
  6. Deuteronomy 20:6The second exemption releases whoever has planted a vineyard and has not yet eaten its first fruit.
  7. Deuteronomy 20:7The third exemption releases the man who is engaged but has not yet actually married the woman promised to him.
  8. Deuteronomy 20:8The last exemption is for whoever is afraid: excused so as not to spread his own discouragement to the other soldiers.
  9. Deuteronomy 20:9After all these exemptions, the commanders formally organize the remaining troops at the head of the army.
  10. Deuteronomy 20:10For cities far away from Canaan, the law commands offering peace first; only if they refuse does the siege come, and even then only the men are killed — women, children, and goods become plunder. The cities of Canaan, in the next verse, do not receive this offer of peace.
  11. Deuteronomy 20:11If the besieged city accepted the offer of peace and opened its gates, its inhabitants would become tributary servants, not be wiped out.
  12. Deuteronomy 20:12If the city refused peace and chose war instead, the response would be a full military siege.
  13. Deuteronomy 20:13Once the siege was won, every man in the city was to be put to death with the edge of the sword.
  14. Deuteronomy 20:14Women, children, livestock, and goods from the city, however, could be taken as plunder of war for one’s own use.
  15. Deuteronomy 20:15This milder rule — sparing women and children — applied only to cities far away, outside Canaanite territory.
  16. Deuteronomy 20:16For the cities within the promised land, the rule was far harsher: nothing that breathed was to be left alive.
  17. Deuteronomy 20:17It specifically names the peoples subject to this total destruction: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
  18. Deuteronomy 20:18The reason given is to avoid religious contamination: learning the idolatrous practices of these peoples would lead Israel to sin against God.
  19. Deuteronomy 20:19Even in war, fruit trees could not be cut down to build siege works or fires, only trees that bore no fruit. It’s one of the rare wartime rules of that era that considers what’s left after the victory.
  20. Deuteronomy 20:20It distinguishes which trees could be cut down to build siege structures during a prolonged war.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play