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20  E haere koe ki te whawhai ki ou hoariri, a ka kite i nga hoiho me nga hariata, i te iwi hoki he tokomaha ake i a koe, kei wehi i a ratou: kei a koe hoki a Ihowa, tou Atua, i kawea mai ai koe i te whenua o Ihipa.

A, ka whakatata koutou ki te whawhai, na me haere mai te tohunga, me korero ki te iwi,

Ka mea ki a ratou, Whakarongo, e Iharaira, e whakatata atu ana koutou aianei ki te whawhai ki o koutou hoariri: kei hopi o koutou ngakau; kaua e wehi; kaua e potatutatu, kaua ano hoki e pawera i to ratou aroaro;

Ko Ihowa hoki, ko to koutou Atua, ko ia te haere tahi ana i a koutou, mana ta koutou whawhai ki o koutou hoariri, mana koutou e whakaora.

Me korero ano hoki nga kaiwhakahauhau ki te iwi, me ki atu, Tenei ranei tetahi kua hanga e ia he whare hou, a kahore ano i taia te kawa? me haere ia, me hoki atu ki tona whare, kei mate ki te whawhaitanga, ka riro ma te tangata ke e ta te kawa.

Tenei ranei tetahi kua whakatokia e ia he mara waina, a kahore ano i kainga nga hua? me haere ia, me hoki atu ki tona whare, kei mate ki te whawhaitanga, ka riro mate tangata ke e kai.

Tenei ranei tetahi kua oti tetahi wahine te taumau mana, a kahore ano i tangohia e ia? me haere ia, me hoki atu ki tona whare, kei mate ki te whawhaitanga, ka riro ma te tangata ke e tango.

A me korero ano nga kaiwhakahauhau ki te iwi, me ki atu, Tenei ranei tetahi e wehi ana, e hopi ana te ngakau? me haere ia, me hoki atu ki tona whare, kei ngohe nga ngakau o ona teina, kei rite ki tona ngakau.

Na ka mutu te korero a nga kaiwhakahauhau ki te iwi, me whakarite e ratou etahi rangatira ope hai upoko mo te iwi.

10 Ka whakatata atu koe ki te tatau ki tetahi pa, na me karanga atu e koe te rangimarie ki reira.

11 A, ki te mea he rangimarie tana e whakahoki mai ai ki a koe, a ka whakapuaretia ki a koe, katahi ka waiho nga tangata katoa e kitea e koe ki reira hei kaihomai takoha ki a koe, hei apa ano ratou mau.

12 A, ki te kore e mau ta reira rongo ki a koe, a ka anga ki te whawhai ki a koe, katahi ka whakapaea e koe:

13 A, ki te hoatu e Ihowa, e tou Atua, ki ou ringa, na me patu e koe nga tane katoa o reira ki te mata o te hoari:

14 Ko nga wahine ia me nga tamariki, ko nga kararehe me nga mea katoa i roto i te pa, ko nga taonga katoa o reira, me tango e koe mau; a ka pau i a koe nga mea a ou hoariri, e hoatu ana e Ihowa, e tou Atua, ki a koe.

15 Ko tenei tau e mea ai ki nga pa katoa e mamao rawa atu ana i a koe, ehara nei i te pa no enei iwi.

16 Ko nga pa ia o enei iwi, e hoatu nei e Ihowa, e tou Atua, ki a koe hei kainga tupu, kaua e whakaorangia tetahi mea e whai manawa ana:

17 Engari me whakangaro rawa ratou e koe; nga Hiti, nga Amori, nga Kanaani, nga Perihi, nga Hiwi, nga Iepuhi; kia rite ki ta Ihowa, ki ta tou Atua, i whakahau ai ki a koe:

18 Kei whakaakona koutou e ratou ki te mahi i a ratou mahi whakarihariha katoa e mahia nei e ratou ki o ratou atua; a ka hara koutou ki a Ihowa, ki to koutou Atua.

19 Ki te maha nga ra e whakapaea ai e koe he pa, e tauria ai kia horo, kei whakakorea e koe nga rakau o reira, kai akina atu ki te toki; no te mea hei kai ena mau, a kaua e tuaina e koe; he tangata koia te rakau o te parae kia whakapaea e koe?

20 Ko nga rakau anake e mohio ai koe ehara i te rakau kai, ko ena au e whakakore, ka tua ki raro; a ka hanga he taiepa whakapae mo te pa e whawhai ana ki a koe, a horo noa.

Going to War

20 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours,(A) do not be afraid(B) of them,(C) because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with(D) you. When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted(E) or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you(F) to fight(G) for you against your enemies to give you victory.(H)

The officers shall say to the army: “Has anyone built a new house and not yet begun to live in(I) it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may begin to live in it. Has anyone planted(J) a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it?(K) Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it. Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her.(L) Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too.”(M) When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.

10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.(N) 11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject(O) to forced labor(P) and shall work for you. 12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. 13 When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.(Q) 14 As for the women, the children, the livestock(R) and everything else in the city,(S) you may take these as plunder(T) for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. 15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance(U) from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.

16 However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.(V) 17 Completely destroy[a] them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you. 18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods,(W) and you will sin(X) against the Lord your God.

19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees people, that you should besiege them?[b] 20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees(Y) and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 20:17 The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the Lord, often by totally destroying them.
  2. Deuteronomy 20:19 Or down to use in the siege, for the fruit trees are for the benefit of people.

20 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.

And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,

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;

For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

10 When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.

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.

12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

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:

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.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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:

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.