Liber Deuteronomii

Deuteronomii, chapter 20, Vulgate and King James Version

Chapter 20 Vulgate

   1 Si exieris ad bellum contra hostes tuos et videris equita tus et currus et maiorem, quam tu habes, adversarii exercitus multitudinem, non timebis eos, quia Dominus Deus tuus tecum est, qui eduxit te de terra Aegypti.
   2 Appropinquante autem iam proelio, stabit sacerdos ante aciem et sic loquetur ad populum:
   3 "Audi, Israel: Vos hodie contra inimicos vestros pugnam committitis; non pertimescat cor vestrum, nolite metuere, nolite cedere nec formidetis eos,
   4 quia Dominus Deus vester incedit vobiscum et pro vobis contra adversarios vestros dimicabit, ut eruat vos de periculo"
   5 Praefecti quoque per singulas turmas, audiente exercitu, proclamabunt: "Quis est homo, qui aedificavit domum novam et non dedicavit eam? Vadat et revertatur in domum suam, ne forte moriatur in bello, et alius dedicet illam.
   6 Quis est homo, qui plantavit vineam et necdum vindemiavit eam? Vadat et revertatur in domum suam, ne forte moriatur in bello, et alius homo vindemiet illam.
   7 Quis est homo, qui despondit uxorem et non accepit eam? Vadat et revertatur in domum suam, ne forte moriatur in bello, et alius homo accipiat eam"
   8 His dictis, addent reliqua et loquentur ad populum: "Quis est homo formidulosus et corde pavido? Vadat et revertatur in domum suam, ne pavere faciat corda fratrum suorum, sicut ipse timore perterritus est"
   9 Cumque praefecti finem loquendi ad populum fecerint, constituantur duces exercitus in capite populi.
   10 Si quando accesseris ad expugnandam civitatem, offeres ei primum pacem;
   11 si receperit et aperuerit tibi portas, cunctus populus, qui in ea est, serviet tibi sub tributo.
   12 Sin autem foedus inire noluerit et coeperit contra te bellum, oppugnabis eam.
   13 Cumque tradiderit Dominus Deus tuus illam in manu tua, percuties omne, quod in ea generis masculini est, in ore gladii
   14 absque mulieribus et infantibus, iumentis et ceteris, quae in civitate sunt. Omnem praedam hanc diripies tibi et comedes de spoliis hostium tuorum, quae Dominus Deus tuus dederit tibi.
   15 Sic facies cunctis civitatibus, quae a te procul valde sunt et non sunt de gentium istarum urbibus, quas in possessionem accepturus es.
   16 De his autem civitatibus, quae dabuntur tibi, nullum omnino permittes vivere,
   17 sed interficies in ore gladii, Hetthaeum videlicet et Amorraeum et Chananaeum, Pherezaeum et Hevaeum et Iebusaeum, sicut praecepit tibi Dominus Deus tuus,
   18 ne forte doceant vos facere cunctas abominationes, quas ipsi operati sunt diis suis, et peccetis in Dominum Deum vestrum.
   19 Quando obsederis civitatem multo tempore et munitionibus circumdederis, ut expugnes eam, non immittes securim in arbores eius, de quibus vesci potes, nec succidas eas. Numquid homo est arbor campi, ut eam obsideas?
   20 Si qua autem ligna non sunt pomifera, succide illa et exstrue machinas, donec capias civitatem, quae contra te dimicat.

Source: Bibliorum Sacrorum Editio, Sacrosanti Oecumenici Concilii Vaticani II, Ratione Habita, Iussu Pauli PP. VI Recognita, Auctoritate Ioannis Pauli PP. II Promulgata, Editio Typica Altera

King James Version

   1 When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
   2 And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
   3 And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
   4 For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
   5 ¶ And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath 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 he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it.
   7 And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
   8 And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart.
   9 And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.
   10 ¶ When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
   11 And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
   12 And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
   13 And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof 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 thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
   15 Thus shalt thou do unto 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 people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
   17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them; namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
   18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
   19 ¶ When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege:
   20 Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.