Laws Concerning Warfare

20 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see ^(A)horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is ^(B)with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. ² And when you draw near to the battle, ^(C)the priest shall come forward and speak to the people ³ 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, ⁴ for the Lord your God is he who goes with you ^(D)to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’ ⁵ 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. ⁶ And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not ^(E)enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. ^7 (F)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.’ ⁸ And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ^(G)‘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.’ ⁹ And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

¹⁰ “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, ^(H)offer terms of peace to it. ¹¹ 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. ¹² But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, ^(I)you shall put all its males to the sword, ^14 (J)but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you ^(K)shall take as plunder for yourselves. And ^(L)you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. ¹⁶ But ^(M)in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷ but ^(N)you shall devote them to complete destruction,^[a] the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, ¹⁸ that ^(O)they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you ^(P)sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, ^(Q)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? ²⁰ 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.

The River of Life

22 Then the angel^[a] showed me ^(A)the river of ^(B)the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² through the middle of ^(C)the street of the city; ^(D)also, on either side of the river, ^(E)the tree of life^[b] with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were ^(F)for the healing of the nations. ^3 (G)No longer will there be anything accursed, but ^(H)the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and ^(I)his servants will worship him. ^4 (J)They will see his face, and ^(K)his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ And ^(L)night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp ^(M)or sun, for ^(N)the Lord God will be their light, and ^(O)they will reign forever and ever.

Jesus Is Coming

⁶ And he said to me, ^(P)“These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of ^(Q)the spirits of the prophets, ^(R)has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

⁷ “And behold, ^(S)I am coming soon. ^(T)Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

⁸ I, ^(U)John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, ^(V)I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ^9 (W)but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those ^(X)who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

¹⁰ And he said to me, ^(Y)“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ^11 (Z)Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

¹² “Behold, ^(AA)I am coming soon, ^(AB)bringing my recompense with me, ^(AC)to repay each one for what he has done. ^13 (AD)I am the Alpha and the Omega, ^(AE)the first and the last, ^(AF)the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who ^(AG)wash their robes,^[c] so that they may have the right to ^(AH)the tree of life and that ^(AI)they may enter the city by the gates. ^15 (AJ)Outside are ^(AK)the dogs ^(AL)and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

^16 (AM)“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things ^(AN)for the churches. I am ^(AO)the root and ^(AP)the descendant of David, ^(AQ)the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and ^(AR)the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And ^(AS)let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the ^(AT)water of life without price.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: ^(AU)if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in ^(AV)the tree of life and in ^(AW)the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely ^(AX)I am coming soon.” Amen. ^(AY)Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.^[d] Amen.