Deuteronomy 20

1 “And when you go out to war against your enemies and see horse and rider, and a people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them — for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you come near the battle, the priest is to come forward and speak to the people and say to them: 3 Hear, Israel. You are going into battle today against your enemies. Do not let your heart fail, do not be afraid, do not be shaken, and do not turn away from them — 4 for it is the Lord your God who goes forward with you, to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.

5 And the officers are to speak to the people. They are to say: Which man has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and go back to his house, in case he dies in the war and another man dedicates it. 6 And which man has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed it? Let him go and go back to his house, in case he dies in the battle and another man enjoys it. 7 And which man is engaged to a woman and has not taken her? Let him go and go back to his house, in case he dies in the battle and another man takes her. 8 And the officers are to speak to the people again and say: Which man is afraid and faint-hearted? Let him go and go back to his house, so that he does not make his brother's heart fail as his own has. [a] 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, they are to appoint commanders of the army to lead the people.

10 And when you come near a city to overcome it by war, you are to call out terms of peace to it. 11 And if they answer you peaceably and open to you, then all the people found in it are to pay you tribute and become subject to you. 12 But if they will not listen to you and make war on you, you are to lay siege to it, 13 until the Lord your God hands it over into your hands; and you are to strike down every male in it with the edge of the sword — 14 except the women and the goods; and all the cattle and everything in the city, and all the plunder, you are to take as spoil for yourself, and you are to eat the plunder of your enemies whom the Lord your God gives you. 15 That is what you are to do to all the cities that are very far from you, cities that do not belong to these nations. 16 But of the cities of these nations, whose land the Lord your God is giving you to hold, you are not to leave anything alive that breathes. 17 You are certainly to devote them to destruction — the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite — as the Lord your God commanded you, [b] 18 so that they may not teach you to do all the detestable things they did for their gods, and so make you sin before the Lord your God.

19 And if you besiege a city for many days, to overcome it by war and take it, you are not to destroy its trees by putting an iron tool to them; you are to eat from them, and not cut them down. Is the tree in the field a man, that it should go into the siege works ahead of you? [c] 20 But the tree you know does not bear fruit — that one you may destroy and cut down, and build a ramp against the city that is making war on you, until it is handed over.”