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Deuteronomy 20:10-18
New English Translation

10 When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace. 11 If it accepts your terms[a] and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.[b] 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,[c] 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[d] the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing[e] to survive. 17 Instead you must utterly annihilate them[f]—the Hittites,[g] Amorites,[h] Canaanites,[i] Perizzites,[j] Hivites,[k] and Jebusites[l]—just as the Lord your God has commanded you, 18 so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship[m] their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 20:11 tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”
  2. 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).
  3. Deuteronomy 20:13 tn Heb “to your hands.”
  4. Deuteronomy 20:16 tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”
  5. Deuteronomy 20:16 tn Heb “any breath.”
  6. 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.
  7. 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.).
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Deuteronomy 20:17 sn Perizzite. This probably refers to a subgroup of Canaanites (Gen 13:7; 34:30).
  11. 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).
  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).
  13. Deuteronomy 20:18 tn Heb “to do according to all their abominations which they do for their gods.”
Close NLT

Deuteronomy 20:10-18
New Living Translation

10 “As you approach a town to attack it, you must first offer its people terms for peace. 11 If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor. 12 But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. 13 When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town. 14 But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the plunder from your enemies that the Lord your God has given you.

15 “But these instructions apply only to distant towns, not to the towns of the nations in the land you will enter. 16 In those towns that the Lord your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy[a] the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

  1. 20:17 The Hebrew term used here refers to the complete consecration of things or people to the Lord, either by destroying them or by giving them as an offering.
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