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The Fifth Book of Moses: Called Deuteronomy, Chapter 20
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1 |
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest
horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of
them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of
the land of Egypt.
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2 |
And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the
priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
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3 |
And shall say
unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against
your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble,
neither be ye terrified because of them;
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4 |
For the LORD your God is
he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save
you.
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And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is
there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him
go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man
dedicate it.
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6 |
And what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet
eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in
the battle, and another man eat of it.
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7 |
And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not
taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the
battle, and another man take her.
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8 |
And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they
shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him
go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well
as his heart.
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9 |
And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking
unto the people that they shall make captains of the armies to lead
the people.
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10 |
When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then
proclaim peace unto it.
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11 |
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto
thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein
shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
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12 |
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war
against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
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13 |
And when the LORD thy
God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male
thereof with the edge of the sword:
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14 |
But the women, and the
little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the
spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the
spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
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15 |
Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off
from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
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16 |
But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth
give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that
breatheth:
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17 |
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the
Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
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18 |
That they teach you not to do after all their abominations,
which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the
LORD your God.
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19 |
When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war
against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by
forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou
shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to
employ them in the siege:
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20 |
Only the trees which thou knowest that
they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and
thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee,
until it be subdued.
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