Deuteronomy 20

When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and a people more numerous than you, do not fear them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. When you draw near to battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people. He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: today you draw near to battle against your enemies. Do not let your heart grow faint. Do not fear or panic or be terrified before them, for the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ The officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘What man has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it. And what man has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit. And what man is betrothed to a woman and has not taken her as his wife? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man take her as his wife.’ The officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘What man is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not melt the hearts of his brothers like his own heart.’ When the officers finish speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of troops at the head of the people. When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer it peace. If it answers you with peace and opens to you, then all the people found in it shall be subject to forced labor for you and shall serve you. But if it does not make peace with you and makes war against you, then besiege it. The LORD your God will give it into your hand, and you shall strike all its males with the edge of the sword. But the women, the children, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself. You shall eat the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you. Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not among the cities of these nations. But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes live. You shall surely devote them to destruction: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded you, lest they teach you to do all the abominations they have done for their gods and you sin against the LORD your God. When you besiege a city for many days, fighting against it to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an ax against them, for you may eat from them. You shall not cut them down. Is the tree of the field a man, that it should come under siege before you? Only a tree that you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down, and build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

Rights and attribution