Deuteronomy 20
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"When you go out to war against your enemies, and see i horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is j with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
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And when you draw near to the battle, k the priest shall come forward and speak to the people
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and 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,
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for the Lord your God is he who goes with you l to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.'
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Then 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.
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And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not m enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
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n And 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.'
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And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, o '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.'
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And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.
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"When you draw near to a city to fight against it, p offer terms of peace to it.
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And 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.
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But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.
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And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, q you shall put all its males to the sword,
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r but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you s shall take as plunder for yourselves. And t you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you.
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Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here.
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But u in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes,
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but v 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,
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that w they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you x sin against the Lord your God.
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"When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, y 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?
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Only 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.
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Cross References
Joshua 17:18
But the hill country shall be yours, for though it is a forest, you shall clear it and possess it to its farthest borders. For you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron, and though they are strong.
Psalms 20:7
Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Isaiah 31:1
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord!
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 31:6
Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:8
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
2 Chronicles 13:12
Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with their battle trumpets to sound the call to battle against you. O sons of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.
2 Chronicles 32:8
With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
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Cross References
Numbers 10:8 - 9
And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. The trumpets shall be to you for a perpetual statute throughout your generations.
Numbers 31:6
And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 1:30
The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.
Deuteronomy 3:22
You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.
Joshua 23:10
One man of you puts to flight a thousand, since it is the Lord your God who fights for you, just as he promised you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 28:30
You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.
Leviticus 19:23 - 25
When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.
1 Corinthians 9:7
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 24:5
When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or be liable for any other public duty. He shall be free at home one year to be happy with his wife whom he has taken.
Deuteronomy 28:30
You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her. You shall build a house, but you shall not dwell in it. You shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not enjoy its fruit.
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Cross References
Judges 7:3
Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and trembling, let him return home and hurry away from Mount Gilead.'" Then 22,000 of the people returned, and 10,000 remained.
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Cross References
Judges 21:13
Then the whole congregation sent word to the people of Benjamin who were at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them.
Deuteronomy 2:26
So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon the king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying.
2 Samuel 20:18
Then she said, "They used to say in former times, 'Let them but ask counsel at Abel,' and so they settled a matter.
2 Samuel 20:20
Joab answered, "Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy!
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Cross References
Numbers 31:7
They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every male.
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Cross References
Numbers 31:9
And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods.
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Cross References
Joshua 8:2
And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.
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Cross References
Joshua 22:8
He said to them, "Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:1 - 2
When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than yourselves.
Numbers 33:52
Then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places.
Joshua 11:14
And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the people of Israel took for their plunder. But every man they struck with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they did not leave any who breathed.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:2
And when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:4
For they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
Deuteronomy 12:30 - 31
Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? - that I also may do the same.
Deuteronomy 18:9
When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.
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Cross References
Exodus 23:33
They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.
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Cross References
2 Kings 3:19
And you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water and ruin every good piece of land with stones.
2 Kings 3:25
And they overthrew the cities, and on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in Kir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.