Deuteronomy 20:1-20 - Rules For War

¹ When thou go forth to battle against thine enemies, and see horses, and chariots, [and] a people more than thou, thou shall not be afraid of them, for LORD thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. ² And it shall be, when ye draw near to the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak to the people, ³ and shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw near this day to battle against your enemies. Let not your heart faint. Fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye frightened at them. ⁴ For LORD your God is he who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.

⁵ And the officers shall speak to the people, saying, What man is there who has built a new house, and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. ⁶ And what man is there who has planted a vineyard, and has not used the fruit of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit of it. ⁷ And what man is there who has betrothed a wife, and has not taken her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. ⁸ And the officers shall speak further to the people, and they shall say, What man is there who is fearful and faint-hearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest his brother's heart melt as his heart. ⁹ And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking to the people, that they shall appoint captains of armies at the head of the people.

¹⁰ When thou draw near to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. ¹¹ And it shall be, if it makes to thee an answer of peace, and opens to thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found in it shall become tributary to thee, and shall serve thee. ¹² And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shall besiege it. ¹³ And when LORD thy God delivers it into thy hand, thou shall smite every male of it 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 of it, thou shall take for a prey to thyself. And thou shall eat the spoil of thine enemies, which LORD thy God has given thee. ¹⁵ Thus thou shall do to 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 LORD thy God gives thee for an inheritance, thou shall save alive nothing that breathes, ¹⁷ but thou shall utterly destroy them--the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite--as LORD thy God has commanded thee, ¹⁸ that they not teach you to do after all their abominations, which they have done to their gods, so ye would sin against LORD your God.

¹⁹ When thou shall besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shall not destroy the trees of it by wielding an axe against them, for thou may eat of them. And thou shall not cut them down, for is the tree of ²⁰ Only the trees of which thou know that they are not trees for food, thou shall destroy and cut them down. And thou shall build bulwarks against the city that makes war with thee, until it falls.