# Deuteronomy 20 📖: Laws for Warfare [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Deuteronomy Overview]] | [[Deuteronomy 19]] | [[Deuteronomy 21]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies [[#Verse 01.]] When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry and troops who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you. [[#Verse 02.]] As you move forward for battle, the priest will approach and say to the soldiers, [[#Verse 03.]] “Listen, Israel! Today you are moving forward to do battle with your enemies. Do not be fainthearted. Do not fear and tremble or be terrified because of them, [[#Verse 04.]] for the Lord your God goes with you to fight on your behalf against your enemies to give you victory.” [[#Verse 05.]] Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you has built a new house and not dedicated it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else dedicate it.  [[#Verse 06.]] Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it.  [[#Verse 07.]] Or who among you has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” [[#Verse 08.]] In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s heart as fearful as his own.” [[#Verse 09.]] Then, when the officers have finished speaking, they must appoint unit commanders to lead the troops. [[#Verse 10.]] When you approach a city to wage war against it, offer it terms of peace.  [[#Verse 11.]] If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. [[#Verse 12.]] If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.  [[#Verse 13.]] The Lord your God will deliver it over to you, and you must kill every single male by the sword.  [[#Verse 14.]] However, the women, little children, cattle, and anything else in the city—all its plunder—you may take for yourselves as spoil. You may take from your enemies the plunder that the Lord your God has given you.  [[#Verse 15.]] This is how you are to deal with all those cities located far from you, those that do not belong to these nearby nations. ### Laws Concerning War with Canaanite Nations [[#Verse 16.]] As for the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing to survive.  [[#Verse 17.]] Instead you must utterly annihilate them—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—just as the Lord your God has commanded you,  [[#Verse 18.]] so that they cannot teach you all the abhorrent ways they worship their gods, causing you to sin against the Lord your God.  [[#Verse 19.]] If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, you must not chop down its trees, for you may eat fruit from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it!  [[#Verse 20.]] However, you may chop down any tree you know is not suitable for food, and you may use it to build siege works against the city that is making war with you until that city falls. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Four kinds of men were sent home from battle: one with a new house not yet dedicated, one with a vineyard not yet enjoyed, one engaged but not married, and one who was afraid (20:5-8). 2. A new vineyard took years to enjoy, because its fruit could not be eaten for the first three years and the fourth year's fruit was holy to the Lord (Leviticus 19:23-25). 3. Gideon used the fearful exemption and sent home 22,000 men (Judges 7:3). 4. Chariots were the most advanced military power of the day, but Israel was not to fear them (20:1). 5. The law distinguishes between distant cities, which were offered peace, and the cities of the nations in the land (20:10-17). 6. Six nations are named in 20:17: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 7. The stated reason for destroying these nations was so they would not teach Israel their detestable religious practices (20:18). 8. The Gibeonites later took advantage of the distant-city rule by pretending to come from far away (Joshua 9:3-6). 9. Officers, not only the priest, addressed the troops before battle (20:5). 10. Ancient armies often cut down the orchards of conquered lands. Israel was forbidden to do so (20:19-20). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the One who fights for us and gives us the victory (20:4). He disarmed the rulers and authorities and triumphed over them through the cross (Colossians 2:15). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. The priest told the army not to fear because the Lord goes with them (20:3-4). What battle are you facing where you need that reminder? 2. Why might God send home the man who was afraid (20:8)? How does fear spread in a group? 3. Even in war, Israel was not to cut down fruit trees (20:19-20). What does that show about God's care for His creation? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 1: Do not fear the enemy's horses and chariots, for the Lord who brought you out of Egypt is with you. - 📖 verse 4: The Lord your God goes with you to fight for you and give you victory. - 📖 verse 10: Offer terms of peace to a city before attacking it. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[Colossians 02#Verse 15.|Colossians 2:15]] - Christ triumphed over the powers through the cross. - 🔗 [[Judges 07#Verse 02.|Judges 7:2-3]] - Gideon sends home the fearful. - 🔗 [[Joshua 09#Verse 03.|Joshua 9:3-6]] - The Gibeonites pretend to be from a distant land. - 🔗 [[2 Chronicles 20#Verse 15.|2 Chronicles 20:15]] - The battle is not yours but God's. - 🔗 [[Romans 08#Verse 31.|Romans 8:31]] - If God is for us, who can be against us? ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 📂 Internal Notes