| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. | 1“When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, is with you! |
| 2And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, | 2When you prepare for battle, the priest must come forward to speak to the troops. |
| 3And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; | 3He will say to them, ‘Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today! Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them. |
| 4For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. | 4For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!’ |
| 5And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. | 5“Then the officers of the army must address the troops and say, ‘Has anyone here just built a new house but not yet dedicated it? If so, you may go home! You might be killed in the battle, and someone else would dedicate your house. |
| 6And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. | 6Has anyone here just planted a vineyard but not yet eaten any of its fruit? If so, you may go home! You might die in battle, and someone else would eat the first fruit. |
| 7And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. | 7Has anyone here just become engaged to a woman but not yet married her? Well, you may go home and get married! You might die in the battle, and someone else would marry her.’ |
| 8And 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 house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. | 8“Then the officers will also say, ‘Is anyone here afraid or worried? If you are, you may go home before you frighten anyone else.’ |
| 9And 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. | 9When the officers have finished speaking to their troops, they will appoint the unit commanders. |
| 10When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. | 10“As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. |
| 11And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, 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. | 11If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. |
| 12And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it: | 12But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. |
| 13And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: | 13When the LORD your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. |
| 14But 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 the LORD thy God hath given thee. | 14But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the LORD your God has given you. |
| 15Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations. | 15“But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. |
| 16But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: | 16In those towns that the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. |
| 17But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee: | 17You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you. |
| 18That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God. | 18This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the LORD your God. |
| 19When 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: | 19“When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them? |
| 20Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. | 20You may only cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to attack the enemy town until it falls. |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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