| English Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1“When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. | 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. |
| 2And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people | 2When you are about to engage in battle, the priest is to come forward and address the army. |
| 3and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, | 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. |
| 4for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ | 4For the LORD your God is the One who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.'" |
| 5Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. | 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. |
| 6And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. | 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. |
| 7And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’ | 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.' |
| 8And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ | 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.' |
| 9And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people. | 9When the officers have finished addressing the army, they will appoint military commanders to lead it." |
| 10“When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it. | 10When you approach a city to fight against it, you must make an offer of peace. |
| 11And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. | 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. |
| 12But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. | 12However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it. |
| 13And when the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword, | 13When the LORD your God hands it over to you, you must strike down all its males with the sword. |
| 14but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you. | 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. |
| 15Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. | 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. |
| 16But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, | 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. |
| 17but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded, | 17You must completely destroy them--the Hittite, Amorite, Canaanite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite--as the LORD your God has commanded you, |
| 18that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God. | 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." |
| 19“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? | 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? |
| 20Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls. | 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." |
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