Text -- Deuteronomy 20:19 (NET)

20:19 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!

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Deu 20:19

¹ tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”

² tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).

³ tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”