20:1 When thou goest out to milchamah (battle) against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for YHWH (יהוה) Eloheicha [is] with thee, which brought thee up out of the eretz Mitzrayim.
20:2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the milchamah , that the kohen shall approach and speak unto the people,
20:3 And shall say unto them, Shema, Yisrael, ye approach this day unto milchamah against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
20:4 For YHWH (יהוה) Eloheichem [is] HE that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
20:5 And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man [is there] that hath built a new bayit, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his bayit, lest he die in the milchamah (battle), and another man dedicate it.
20:6 And what man [is he] that hath planted a kerem (vineyard), and hath not [yet] eaten of it? let him [also] go and return unto his bayit, lest he die in the milchamah , and another man eat of it.
20:7 And what man [is there] that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his bayit, lest he die in the milchamah , and another man take her.
20:8 And 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 bayit, lest his brethren's lev faint as well as his lev.
20:9 And 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.
20:10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim shalom unto it.
20:11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of shalom, 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.
20:12 And if it will make no shalom with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
20:13 And when YHWH (יהוה) Eloheicha hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
20:14 But 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 YHWH (יהוה) Eloheicha hath given thee.
20:15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities [which are] very far off from thee, which [are] not of the cities of these nations.
20:16 But of the cities of these people, which YHWH (יהוה) Eloheicha doth give thee [for] an nachalah (inheritance), thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
20:17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; [namely], the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Yevusites; as YHWH (יהוה) Eloheicha hath commanded thee:
20:18 That they teach you not to do after all their to'avot (abominations), which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against YHWH (יהוה) Eloheichem.
20:19 When 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:
20:20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they [be] not trees for ma'akal (food), thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.