Laws of Warfare 1 AKJV When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, and chariots, and a people more than you, be not afraid of them: for the LORD your God is with you, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt. BSB BSB: When 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.
2 AKJV And it shall be, when you are come near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, BSB BSB: When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army,
3 AKJV And shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, you approach this day to battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be you terrified because of them; BSB BSB: saying 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.
4 AKJV For the LORD your God is he that goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. BSB BSB: For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”
5 AKJV And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there that has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. BSB BSB: Furthermore, 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.
6 AKJV And what man is he that has planted a vineyard, and has not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. BSB BSB: Has 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.
7 AKJV And what man is there that has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. BSB BSB: Has 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.”
8 AKJV And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return to his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart. BSB BSB: Then 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.”
9 AKJV And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. BSB BSB: When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.
10 AKJV When you come near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. BSB BSB: When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.
11 AKJV And it shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries to you, and they shall serve you. BSB BSB: If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
12 AKJV And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it: BSB BSB: But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.
13 AKJV And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: BSB BSB: When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
14 AKJV But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take to yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you. BSB BSB: But 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.
15 AKJV Thus shall you do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. BSB BSB: This is how you are to treat all the cities that are far away from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
16 AKJV But of the cities of these people, which the LORD your God does give you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes: BSB BSB: However, 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.
17 AKJV But you shall utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD your God has commanded you: BSB BSB: For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the LORD your God has commanded you,
18 AKJV That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so should you sin against the LORD your God. BSB BSB: so 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.
19 AKJV When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an ax against them: for you may eat of them, and you shall not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man’s life) to employ them in the siege: BSB BSB: When 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?
20 AKJV Only the trees which you know that they be not trees for meat, you shall destroy and cut them down; and you shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it be subdued. BSB BSB: But 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.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.