Deuteronomy 20:19-20
New English Translation
19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it,[a] you must not chop down its trees,[b] for you may eat fruit[c] from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it![d] 20 However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food,[e] and you may use it to build siege works[f] against the city that is making war with you until that city falls.
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- 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 20:19-20
Legacy Standard Bible
19 “If you besiege a city for many days, 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. [a]For is the tree of the field a man, that it should [b]be besieged by you? 20 Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you shall destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.
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- Deuteronomy 20:19 Read as interrogative with ancient versions
- Deuteronomy 20:19 Lit come before you in the siege
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