Deuteronomy 20:16

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14 But the women, the little ones, ^athe livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and ^byou shall eat the enemies’ plunder which the Lord your God gives you.

15 Thus you shall do to all the cities which are very far from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

16 “But ^aof the cities of these peoples which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive,

17 but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,

18 lest ^athey teach you to do according to all their¹ abominations which they have done for their gods, and you ^bsin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, while making war against it to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them; if you can eat of them, do not cut them down to use in the siege, for the tree of the field is man’s food.

Commentaries:

Barnes' Notes

<< Deuteronomy 20:15

Deuteronomy 20:17 >>

Deuteronomy 20:10-20

Directions intended to prevent wanton destruction of life and property in sieges.

Deuteronomy 20:16

Forbearance, however, was not to be shown toward the Canaanite nations, which were to be utterly exterminated (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-4). The command did not apply to beasts as well as men (compare Joshua 11:11, Joshua 11:14).

Deuteronomy 20:19

The parenthesis may he more literally rendered "for man is a tree of the field," i. e., has his life from the tree of the field, is supported in life by it (compare Deuteronomy 24:6). The Egyptians seem invariably to have cut down the fruit-trees in war.

Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Deuteronomy 20:16:

Deuteronomy 20:10-20
Isaiah 66:17
2 Corinthians 13:1

<< Deuteronomy 20:15

Deuteronomy 20:17 >>

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