Deuteronomy 20:17-19

Lexham English Bible

¹⁷ Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites^[a] and the Amorites,^[b] the Canaanites^[c] and the Perizzites,^[d] the Hivites,^[e] and the Jebusites,^[f] just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹ “If^[g] you besiege a town for many days to make war against it in order to seize it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them,^[h] for you may eat from them,^[i] and so you must not cut them^[j] down. Are the trees of the field humans that they should come in siege against you?^[k]