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.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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
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.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 20:20 The Heb. lacks whose fruit
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
