Passage

Deuteronomy 20.16-18

Book: Deuteronomy · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"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 for a prey unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah 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 peoples, that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth; 17. but thou shalt utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Jehovah 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 would ye sin against Jehovah 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 wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? 20. Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall." (Deuteronomy 20:14-20, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"14. but the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, even all its plunder, you shall take for plunder for yourself. You may use the plunder of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you. 15. Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations."

"16. But of the cities of these peoples, that Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes; 17. but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Yahweh your God has commanded you; 18. that they not teach you to follow all their abominations, which they have done to their gods; so would you sin against Yahweh your God."

"19. When you shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; for you may eat of them. You shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged by you? 20. Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you shall destroy and cut them down. You shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls." (Deuteronomy 20:14-20, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"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. ^{take: Heb. spoil} 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: ^{for the: or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be employed in the siege} ^{to employ: Heb. to go from before thee} 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. ^{it: Heb. it come down}" (Deuteronomy 20:14-20, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"14. Only, the women, and the infants, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, thou dost seize for thyself, and thou hast eaten the spoil of thine enemies which Jehovah thy God hath given to thee. 15. So thou dost do to all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations."

"16. 'Only, of the cities of these peoples which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee [for] an inheritance, thou dost not keep alive any breathing; 17. for thou dost certainly devote the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee, 18. so that they teach you not to do according to all their abominations which they have done to their gods, and ye have sinned against Jehovah your God."

"19. 'When thou layest siege unto a city many days, to fight against it, to capture it, thou dost not destroy its trees to force an axe against them, for of them thou dost eat, and them thou dost not cut down, for man's [is] the tree of the field, to go in at thy presence in the siege. 20. Only, the tree, which thou knowest that it [is] not a fruit-tree, it thou dost destroy, and hast cut down, and hast built a bulwark against the city which is making with thee war till thou hast subdued it." (Deuteronomy 20:14-20, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Moses, in his final addresses to Israel
Audience: the second-generation Israelites
Location: the plains of Moab, east of the Jordan
Time period: end of the 40-year wilderness wandering, c. 1406 BC

Theological reading

Deut 20 is the OT's warfare-law, distinguishing outside-the-Land warfare (vv. 10-15: offer terms of peace first, take women / children / cattle as spoil if peace refused) from inside-the-Land warfare against the seven named Canaanite peoples (vv. 16-18: [[H2763 - charam|charam]]). The two-tier structure is theologically-decisive: the conquest-charam is not generalized warfare-law for Israel; it is narrowly bounded to the named seven peoples in the Land at the conquest moment. The rationale is named at v. 18, "that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods", religious-formation-of-Israel and protection-from-syncretism, not ethnic-cleansing. The named-abominations are cataloged at Lev 18:21-30 + Deut 12:31 + 18:9-14 (institutional child-sacrifice, ritual incest, bestiality, cultic prostitution, necromancy). The two-tier structure removes the conquest-charam from the warrant for generalized Israelite-warfare against non-Canaanite-Gentile-populations: those are governed by vv. 10-15's offer-of-peace-first rule. Just-war theory (Augustine, Aquinas) classically treats the conquest-charam as sui generis and non-portable; vv. 10-15 supply the standard frame for non-conquest warfare, which post-Sinai Israel and post-Mosaic just-war tradition build on. See Canaanite Conquest Objection Defeater for the defeater treatment and H2763 - charam for the verb's apologetic load.

Key words

H2763 - charam, haḥarem taḥarimem, the charam commission for the inside-the-Land cities; the verb's load-bearing conquest-mode.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.