Deuteronomy 20:19-20
English Standard Version
19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, (A)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.
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Deuteronomy 20:19-20
International Standard Version
Preservation of Fruit Trees
19 “When you attack a city and have to fight against it for many days, don’t destroy its trees by cutting them down with an ax. You may eat from them, but you must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human beings, that you would come and attack them? 20 However, you may cut down the trees whose fruit[a] you know isn’t edible, in order to build siege works against the city that waged war with you, until it falls.”
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- Deuteronomy 20:20 The Heb. lacks whose fruit
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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