Deuteronomy 20:12

New King James Version

Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
However, if it does not make peace with you but wages war against you, lay siege to it.

Hebrew Names Version
If it will make no shalom with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

King James Version
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

Lexham English Bible
But if they do not accept your terms of peace and they want to make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.

English Standard Version
But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

New Century Version
But if they do not make peace with you and fight you in battle, you should surround that city.

New English Translation
If it does not accept terms of peace but makes war with you, then you are to lay siege to it.

Amplified Bible
"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall lay siege to it.

New American Standard Bible
"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if it will make no peace with thee, but make war against thee, then shalt thou besiege it.

Legacy Standard Bible
However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

Complete Jewish Bible
However, if they refuse to make peace with you but prefer to make war against you, you are to put it under siege.

Darby Translation
And if it will not make peace with thee, but will make war with thee, then thou shalt besiege it;

Easy-to-Read Version
But if the city refuses to make peace with you and fights against you, you should surround the city.

George Lamsa Translation
But if it will not surrender to you, but will make war with you, then you shall besiege it;

Good News Translation
But if the people of that city will not surrender, but choose to fight, surround it with your army.

Literal Translation
And if it shall not make peace with you, and shall make war with you, then you shall lay siege against it.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf they wyl not deale peaceably wt the, and wyll warre with the, then besege it:

American Standard Version
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

Bible in Basic English
If however it will not make peace with you, but war, then let it be shut in on all sides:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if they wyll make no peace with thee, but make warre agaynst thee, thou shalt besiege it.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it.

King James Version (1611)
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make warre against thee, then thou shalt besiege it.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if they will not hearken to thee, but wage war against thee, thou shalt invest it;

English Revised Version
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

Berean Standard Bible
But if they refuse to make peace with you and wage war against you, lay siege to that city.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Sotheli if they nylen make boond of pees, and bigynnen batel ayens thee, thou schalt fiyte ayens it.

Young's Literal Translation
`And if it doth not make peace with thee, and hath made with thee war, then thou hast laid siege against it,

Update Bible Version
And if it will not make peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

Webster's Bible Translation
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:

World English Bible
If it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:

New Living Translation
But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town.

New Life Bible
But if they do not make peace with you and fight against you, you must take the city in battle.

New Revised Standard
If it does not submit to you peacefully, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But if it will not make peace with thee, but will make war with thee, then shalt thou lay siege to it;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if they will not make peace, and shall begin war against thee, thou shalt besiege it.

Revised Standard Version
But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it.

Contextual Overview

¹⁰ "When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. ¹¹ And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you. ¹² Now if the city will not make peace with you, but war against you, then you shall besiege it. ¹³ And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword. ¹⁴ But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall plunder for yourself; and you 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 of 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 they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 11:29
Then Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

Genesis 12:13
Please say you are my sister, that it may be well with me for your sake, and that I [fn] may live because of you."

1 Thessalonians 5:22
Abstain from every form of evil.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if it will make no peace with thee,.... Will not accept of terms of peace offered:

but will make war against thee; come out and fight, or prepare to defend themselves: then thou shall besiege it; surround and block it up on all sides with their forces; the Jews say only on three sides, leaving one for any to flee and make their escape if they thought fit;

:-.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.