Laws of Warfare 1 UST When your fighting men go to fight your enemies and see that they have many horses and chariots and that their army is much bigger than yours, do not be afraid of them, because Yahweh our God, who brought the Israelites safely out of Egypt, will be with you. 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 UST When you are ready to start the battle, the high priest must stand in front of the fighting men. BSB BSB: When you are about to go into battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army,
3 UST He must say to them,‘Listen to me Israelite men! Today you are going to fight against our enemies. Do not be timid! Do not be afraid of them in any way at all, 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 UST because Yahweh our God will go with you. He will fight your enemies for you, and he will enable you to defeat them.’ BSB BSB: For the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”
5 UST Then the leaders must say to the fighting men,‘If anyone among you has just built a new house and has not dedicated it{ to God}, he should go home{ and dedicate the house}. If he does not do that, if he dies in the battle, someone else will dedicate the house{ and live in 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 UST If anyone among you has planted a vineyard and has not yet harvested any grapes from it, he should go home. If he stays here and dies in the battle, someone else will harvest the grapes and enjoy the wine made from them. 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 UST If anyone among you has become engaged to marry a woman but has not married her yet, he should go home{ and marry her}. If he stays here and dies in the battle, someone else will marry 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 UST Then the leaders must also say to the fighting men,‘If anyone among you is afraid or timid, he should go home, in order that he does not cause his fellow soldiers to be afraid like him.’ 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 UST When the leaders have finished speaking to the fighting men, they must appoint commanders over them. BSB BSB: When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.
10 UST When you go up to a city{ that is far away} to attack it, first tell the people there that if they surrender, you will not attack them. BSB BSB: When you approach a city to fight against it, you are to make an offer of peace.
11 UST If they open the gates of the city and surrender, they will all become your slaves to work for 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 UST But if they refuse to surrender peacefully and decide instead to fight against you, your troops must surround the city and break through the walls. BSB BSB: But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.
13 UST Then, when Yahweh our God enables you to capture the city, you must kill all the men in the city. BSB BSB: When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.
14 UST But you may take for yourselves the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else that you want to take from the city. You may enjoy all the things that belonged to your enemies, the things that Yahweh our God has given to 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 UST That is how you should make war against all the people in cities that are far from the land in which you will settle, not the people in cities in your land. 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 UST But in the cities that are in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you forever, you must kill all the people and all the animals. 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 UST You must completely get rid of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Yahweh our God commands you to do this. 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 UST If you do not do that, they will teach you to sin against Yahweh our God by doing the disgusting things that they do when they worship their gods. 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 UST When you surround a city for a long time, trying to capture it, do not cut down the fruit trees outside the city. You are allowed to eat the fruit from the trees, but do not destroy the trees, because they certainly are not your enemies. 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 UST You are permitted to cut down trees you know do not bear fruit and use the wood to make ladders and towers to enable you to go over the walls and capture the city that is resisting you. 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.