Deuteronomy 20:11-16

20:11 If it accepts your terms ¹  and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves. ²  20:12 If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it. 20:13 The Lord your God will deliver it over to you ³  and you must kill every single male by the sword. 20:14 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. 20:15 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

20:16 As for the cities of these peoples that ⁴  the Lord your God is going to give you as an inheritance, you must not allow a single living thing ⁵  to survive.

Deuteronomy 20:2

20:2 As you move forward for battle, the priest ⁶  will approach and say to the soldiers, ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 28:8-13

28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ⁸  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ⁹  and obey him. ¹⁰  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, ¹¹  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ¹²  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ¹³  promised your ancestors ¹⁴  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; ¹⁵  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ¹⁶  commandments which I am urging ¹⁷  you today to be careful to do.

[20:11]  ¹ tn Heb “if it answers you peace.”

[20:11]  ² tn Heb “become as a vassal and will serve you.” The Hebrew term translated slaves (מַס, mas) refers either to Israelites who were pressed into civil service, especially under Solomon (1 Kgs 5:27; 9:15, 21; 12:18), or (as here) to foreigners forced as prisoners of war to become slaves to Israel. The Gibeonites exemplify this type of servitude (Josh 9:3-27; cf. Josh 16:10; 17:13; Judg 1:28, 30-35; Isa 31:8; Lam 1:1).

[20:13]  ³ tn Heb “to your hands.”

[20:16]  ⁴ tn The antecedent of the relative pronoun is “cities.”

[20:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “any breath.”

[20:2]  ⁶ sn The reference to the priest suggests also the presence of the ark of the covenant, the visible sign of God’s presence. The whole setting is clearly that of “holy war” or “Yahweh war,” in which God himself takes initiative as the true commander of the forces of Israel (cf. Exod 14:14-18; 15:3-10; Deut 3:22; 7:18-24; 31:6, 8).

[20:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he will say to the people.” Cf. NIV, NCV, CEV “the army”; NRSV, NLT “the troops.”

[28:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[28:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

[28:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[28:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[28:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”