| New American Standard Bible 1995 | New International Version |
| 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, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you. | 1When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. |
| 2"When you are approaching the battle, the priest shall come near and speak to the people. | 2When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. |
| 3"He shall say to them, 'Hear, O Israel, you are approaching the battle against your enemies today. Do not be fainthearted. Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble before them, | 3He shall say: "Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. |
| 4for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.' | 4For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory." |
| 5"The officers also shall speak to the people, saying, 'Who is the man that has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would dedicate it. | 5The officers shall say to the army: "Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. |
| 6'Who is the man that has planted a vineyard and has not begun to use its fruit? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would begin to use its fruit. | 6Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. |
| 7'And who is the man that is engaged to a woman and has not married her? Let him depart and return to his house, otherwise he might die in the battle and another man would marry her.' | 7Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her." |
| 8"Then the officers shall speak further to the people and say, 'Who is the man that is afraid and fainthearted? Let him depart and return to his house, so that he might not make his brothers' hearts melt like his heart.' | 8Then the officers shall add, "Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too." |
| 9"When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of armies at the head of the people. | 9When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it. |
| 10"When you approach a city to fight against it, you shall offer it terms of peace. | 10When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. |
| 11"If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you. | 11If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. |
| 12"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. | 12If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. |
| 13"When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword. | 13When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. |
| 14"Only the women and the children and the animals and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as booty for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. | 14As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies. |
| 15"Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations nearby. | 15This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. |
| 16"Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. | 16However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. |
| 17"But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, as the LORD your God has commanded you, | 17Completely destroy them--the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites--as the LORD your God has commanded you. |
| 18so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God. | 18Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God. |
| 19"When you besiege a city a long time, to make war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged by you? | 19When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them? |
| 20"Only the trees which you know are not fruit trees you shall destroy and cut down, that you may construct siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls. | 20However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls. |
| New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit //www.lockman.org | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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