Deuteronomy:20

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* When thou goest out to battle against thy 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 , who brought thee out of the land of Egypt . * And it shall be when ye are come nigh to the battle , that the priest shall approach and speak to the people , * And shall say to them , Hear , O Israel , ye approach this day to 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 to 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 should die in the battle , and another man should 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 to his house , lest he should die in the battle , and another man should eat of it . * And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife , and hath not taken her ? let him go and return to his house , lest he should die in battle , and another man should take her . * And the officers shall speak further to the people , and they shall say , What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted ? let him go and return to his house , lest his brethren 's heart should faint as well as his heart . * And it shall be , when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people , that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people . * When thou comest nigh to a city to fight against it , then proclaim peace to it . * And it shall be , if it shall make thee answer of peace , and open to thee , then it shall be , that all the people that are found therein , shall be tributaries to thee , and they shall serve thee . * And if it will make no peace with thee , but will make war against thee , then thou shalt besiege it : * And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands , thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword : * But the women , and the little ones , and the cattle , and all that is in the city , even all the spoil of it , shalt thou take to thyself : and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies , which the LORD thy God hath given thee . * Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very distant from thee , which are not of the cities of these nations . * 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 : * 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 : * That they may not teach you to do after all their abominations which they have done to their gods ; so would ye sin against the LORD your God . * When thou shalt besiege a city a long time in making war against it to take it , thou shalt not destroy the trees of it by forcing an ax 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 : * Only the trees 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 shall be subdued .

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