申命记 20
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Simplified)
交战的条例
20 “你们和敌人交战时，面对比你们强大的军队及战车战马，不要害怕，因为你们的上帝耶和华与你们同在，祂曾带领你们离开埃及。 2 你们出战之前，祭司要上前鼓舞士气， 3 说，‘以色列人啊，听着！今天你们要和敌人交战，不要胆怯，不要惧怕，也不要恐慌。 4 因为你们的上帝耶和华要与你们同去，为你们争战，使你们得胜。’ 5 官长要对士兵说，‘你们谁建了新房子还没有举行奉献礼[a]？他可以回家去，以免他阵亡了，别人为他的房子举行奉献礼。 6 谁栽种了葡萄园还没有享受过园中的果子？他可以回家去，以免他阵亡了，别人享受他园中的果子。 7 谁订了亲还没有迎娶？他可以回家去，以免他阵亡了，别人娶他的未婚妻。’ 8 官长也要告诉士兵，‘有没有胆怯、害怕的？他可以回家去，免得影响他人士气。’ 9 他们讲完后，就要委派将领率军出战。
攻城之略
10 “你们进攻一座城之前，要先给城中居民求和的机会。 11 如果他们开城投降，城里所有的人都要做你们的奴隶，为你们服劳役。 12 如果他们不肯投降，要交战，你们就要围攻那城。 13 你们的上帝耶和华把城交给你们时，你们要杀光城里所有的男子， 14 但可以留下城中的妇女、孩童、牲畜及其他一切作战利品。你们可以享用仇敌的财物，那是你们的上帝耶和华赐给你们的。 15 上述做法只适用于离你们很遥远的城邑，你们附近各族的城邑除外。 16 你们的上帝耶和华将把你们附近各族的城邑赐给你们，你们要将里面有气息的全部消灭。 17 要遵照你们的上帝耶和华的吩咐，彻底灭绝赫人、亚摩利人、迦南人、比利洗人、希未人和耶布斯人， 18 免得他们将祭拜自己神明的可憎习俗传给你们，以致你们得罪你们的上帝耶和华。
19 “你们围攻一座城久攻不下时，不可用斧头砍掉那里的树木，因为你们可以吃树上的果子。田间的树木岂是人，让你们围攻吗？ 20 但你们可以砍那些不结果子的树来建围城的工事，直到攻陷为止。
Footnotes
- 20:5 “举行奉献礼”指入住前举行的仪式，有些版本译为“开始入住”。
Deuteronomy 20
King James Version
20 When 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.
2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
3 And 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;
4 For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
5 And 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.
6 And 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.
7 And 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.
8 And 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.
9 And 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.
10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
11 And 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.
12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
13 And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
14 But 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.
15 Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
17 But 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:
18 That 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.
19 When 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:
20 Only 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.
Deuteronomy 20
New English Translation
Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies
20 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry[a] and troops[b] 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. 2 As you move forward for battle, the priest[c] will approach and say to the soldiers,[d] 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, 4 for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.”[e] 5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops,[f] “Who among you[g] has built a new house and not dedicated[h] it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else[i] dedicate it. 6 Or 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. 7 Or who among you[j] 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 In 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[k] heart as fearful[l] as his own.” 9 Then, when the officers have finished speaking,[m] they must appoint unit commanders[n] to lead the troops.
10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 11 If it accepts your terms[o] and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.[p] 12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you,[q] and you must kill every single male by the sword. 14 However, 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. 15 This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations.
Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations
16 As for the cities of these peoples that[r] the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing[s] to survive. 17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them[t]—the Hittites,[u] Amorites,[v] Canaanites,[w] Perizzites,[x] Hivites,[y] and Jebusites[z]—just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship[aa] their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God. 19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it,[ab] you must not chop down its trees,[ac] for you may eat fruit[ad] from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it![ae] 20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food,[af] and you may use it to build siege works[ag] against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 20:1 tn Heb “horse and chariot.”
- Deuteronomy 20:1 tn Heb “people.”
- Deuteronomy 20:2 sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).
- Deuteronomy 20:2 tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.”
- Deuteronomy 20:4 tn Or “to save you” (so KJV, NASB, NCV); or “to deliver you.”
- Deuteronomy 20:5 tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).
- Deuteronomy 20:5 tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).
- Deuteronomy 20:5 tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חֲנֻכָּה, khanukkah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61).
- Deuteronomy 20:5 tn Heb “another man.”
- Deuteronomy 20:7 tn Heb “Who [is] the man.”
- Deuteronomy 20:8 tn Heb “his brother’s.”
- Deuteronomy 20:8 tn Heb “melted.”
- Deuteronomy 20:9 tn The Hebrew text includes “to the people,” but this phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Deuteronomy 20:9 tn Heb “princes of hosts.”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:13; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).
- Deuteronomy 20:13 tn Heb “to your hands.”
- Deuteronomy 20:16 tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”
- Deuteronomy 20:16 tn Heb “any breath.”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation seeks to reflect with “utterly.” Cf. CEV “completely wipe out.”sn The Hebrew verb refers to placing persons or things so evil and/or impure as to be irredeemable under God’s judgment, usually to the extent of their complete destruction. See also the note on the phrase “the divine judgment” in Deut 2:34.
- Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Hittite. The center of Hittite power was in Anatolia (central modern Turkey). In the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 b.c.) they were at their zenith, establishing outposts and colonies near and far. Some elements were obviously in Canaan at the time of the Conquest (1400-1350 b.c.).
- Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Amorite. Originally from the upper Euphrates region (Amurru), the Amorites appear to have migrated into Canaan beginning in 2200 b.c. or thereabouts.
- Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Canaanite. These were the indigenous peoples of the land of Palestine, going back to the beginning of recorded history (ca. 3000 b.c.). The OT identifies them as descendants of Ham (Gen 10:6), the only Hamites to have settled north and east of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
- Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Hivite. These are usually thought to be the same as the Hurrians, a people well-known in ancient Near Eastern texts. They are likely identical to the Horites (see note on “Horites” in Deut 2:12).
- Deuteronomy 20:17 tc The LXX adds “Girgashites” here at the end of the list in order to list the full (and usual) complement of seven (see note on “seven” in Deut 7:1).sn Jebusite. These people inhabited the hill country, particularly in and about Jerusalem (cf. Num 13:29; Josh 15:8; 2 Sam 5:6; 24:16).
- Deuteronomy 20:18 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
- Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”
- Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).
- Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”
- Deuteronomy 20:20 tn Heb “however, a tree which you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down.”
- Deuteronomy 20:20 tn Heb “[an] enclosure.” The term מָצוֹר (matsor) may refer to encircling ditches or to surrounding stagings. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 238.
Deuteronomy 20
New King James Version
Principles Governing Warfare
20 “When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see (A)horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be (B)afraid of them; for the Lord your God is (C)with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. 2 So it shall be, when you are on the verge of battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people. 3 And 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; 4 for the Lord your God is He who goes with you, (D)to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
5 “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not (E)dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 Also 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. 7 (F)And 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.’
8 “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, (G)‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, [a]lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’ 9 And 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.
10 “When you go near a city to fight against it, (H)then proclaim an offer of peace to it. 11 And 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. 12 Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God delivers it into your hands, (I)you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. 14 But the women, the little ones, (J)the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and (K)you shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.
16 “But (L)of the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive, 17 but 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, 18 lest (M)they teach you to do according to all their [b]abominations which they have done for their gods, and you (N)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. 20 Only 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.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 20:8 So with MT, Tg.; Sam., LXX, Syr., Vg. lest he make his brother’s heart faint
- Deuteronomy 20:18 detestable things
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Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
