| Berean Study Bible | NET Bible |
| 1When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and an army larger than yours, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you. | 1When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. |
| 2When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army, | 2As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers, |
| 3saying to them, “Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be alarmed or terrified because of them. | 3"Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, |
| 4For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.” | 4for the LORD your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory." |
| 5Furthermore, the officers are to address the army, saying, “Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man dedicate it. | 5Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it. |
| 6Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. | 6Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. |
| 7Has any man become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him return home, or he may die in battle and another man marry her.” | 7Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her." |
| 8Then the officers shall speak further to the army, saying, “Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him return home, so that the hearts of his brothers will not melt like his own.” | 8In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier's heart as fearful as his own." |
| 9When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it. | 9Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops. |
| 10When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace. | 10When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. |
| 11If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you. | 11If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. |
| 12But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city. | 12If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. |
| 13When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword. | 13The LORD your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword. |
| 14But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you. | 14However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city--all its plunder--you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the LORD your God has given you. |
| 15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. | 15This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations. |
| 16However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes. | 16As for the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive. |
| 17For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you, | 17Instead you must utterly annihilate them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites--just as the LORD your God has commanded you, |
| 18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God. | 18so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them? | 19If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! |
| 20But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce fruit. Use them to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls. | 20However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls. |
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