| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. | 1When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. |
| 2So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. | 2As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers, |
| 3And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them; | 3"Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, |
| 4for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’ | 4for the LORD your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory." |
| 5“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who 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. | 5Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it. |
| 6Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. | 6Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. |
| 7And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’ | 7Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her." |
| 8“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ | 8In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, "Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier's heart as fearful as his own." |
| 9And so it shall be, when the officers have finished speaking to the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people. | 9Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops. |
| 10“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. | 10When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. |
| 11And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. | 11If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. |
| 12Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. | 12If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. |
| 13And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. | 13The LORD your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword. |
| 14But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the LORD your God gives you. | 14However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city--all its plunder--you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the LORD your God has given you. |
| 15Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations. | 15This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations. |
| 16“But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, | 16As for the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive. |
| 17but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, | 17Instead you must utterly annihilate them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites--just as the LORD your God has commanded you, |
| 18lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the LORD your God. | 18so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19“When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food. | 19If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! |
| 20Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, to build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it is subdued. | 20However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls. |
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