| Holman Christian Standard Bible | New American Standard Bible 1995 |
| 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. | 1"When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. |
| 2When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army. | 2"When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. |
| 3He is to say to them: 'Listen, Israel: Today you are about to engage in battle with your enemies. Do not be cowardly. Do not be afraid, alarmed, or terrified because of them. | 3"He shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, |
| 4For the LORD your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.'" | 4for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.' |
| 5The officers are to address the army, 'Has any man built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise, he may die in battle and another man dedicate it. | 5"The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, 'Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. |
| 6Has any man planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy its fruit? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. | 6'Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit. |
| 7Has any man become engaged to a woman and not married her? Let him leave and return home. Otherwise he may die in battle and another man marry her.' | 7'And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.' |
| 8The officers will continue to address the army and say, 'Is there any man who is afraid or cowardly? Let him leave and return home, so that his brothers' hearts won't melt like his own.' | 8"Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, 'Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers' hearts melt like his heart.' |
| 9When the officers have finished addressing the army, they will appoint military commanders to lead it." | 9"When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people. |
| 10When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace. | 10"When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. |
| 11If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you. | 11"If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. |
| 12However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it. | 12"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. |
| 13When the LORD your God hands it over to you, you must strike down all its males with the sword. | 13"When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. |
| 14But you may take the women, children, animals, and whatever else is in the city--all its spoil--as plunder. You may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you. | 14"Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. |
| 15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and are not among the cities of these nations. | 15"Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby. |
| 16However, you must not let any living thing survive among the cities of these people the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. | 16"Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. |
| 17You must completely destroy them--the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite--as the LORD your God has commanded you, | 17"But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, |
| 18so that they won't teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God." | 18so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can get food from them. You must not cut them down. Are trees of the field human, to come under siege by you? | 19"When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? |
| 20But you may destroy the trees that you know do not produce food. You may cut them down to build siege works against the city that is waging war against you, until it falls." | 20"Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls. |
| Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. | New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org |
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