Deuteronomy 20:10-18
Lexham English Bible
10 “When you approach a city to fight against it, you must offer it peace.[a] 11 And then[b] if they accept your terms of peace[c] and they surrender to you,[d] and then[e] all the people inhabiting it[f] shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you. 12 But if they do not accept your terms of peace[g] and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.[h] 13 And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge[i] of the sword. 14 Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals[j] and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the far[k] cities from you, which are not from the cities of these nations located nearby.[l]
16 But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.[m] 17 Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites[n] and the Amorites,[o] the Canaanites[p] and the Perizzites,[q] the Hivites,[r] and the Jebusites,[s] 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.
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- Deuteronomy 20:10 Literally “you should call it for peace”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 Literally “And it will happen”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 Literally “if peace they reply to you”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 Literally “they open to you”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 Literally “and it will happen”
- Deuteronomy 20:11 Literally “being found in it”
- Deuteronomy 20:12 Literally “not they make peace with you”
- Deuteronomy 20:12 That is, the city
- Deuteronomy 20:13 Literally “mouth”
- Deuteronomy 20:14 Hebrew “animal”
- Deuteronomy 20:15 Or “distant”
- Deuteronomy 20:15 Literally “here”
- Deuteronomy 20:16 Or “is alive”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Hittite”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Canaanite”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Perizzite”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Hivite”
- Deuteronomy 20:17 Hebrew “Jebusite”
Deuteronomy 20:10-18
English Standard Version
10 “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, (A)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, (B)you shall put all its males to the sword, 14 (C)but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you (D)shall take as plunder for yourselves. And (E)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 (F)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 (G)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 (H)they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you (I)sin against the Lord your God.
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- Deuteronomy 20:17 That is, set apart (devote) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
