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Saturday, July 12th, 2025
the Week of Proper 9 / Ordinary 14
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Amplified Bible

Deuteronomy 20:11

"If that city accepts your terms of peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Ethics;   War;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Kill, Killing;   War, Holy War;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Alms;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Issachar;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Anathema;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crimes and Punishments;   Deuteronomy;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Peculiarities of the Law of Moses;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Adoniram;   Tax;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Captives;   War;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If it accepts your offer of peace and opens its gates to you, all the people found in it will become forced laborers for you and serve you.
Hebrew Names Version
It shall be, if it make you answer of shalom, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.
King James Version
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.
Lexham English Bible
And then if they accept your terms of peace and they surrender to you, and then all the people inhabiting it shall be forced labor for you, and they shall serve you.
English Standard Version
And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you.
New Century Version
If they accept your offer and open their gates to you, all the people of that city will become your slaves and work for you.
New English Translation
If it accepts your terms and submits to you, all the people found in it will become your slaves.
New American Standard Bible
"And if it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and serve you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And if it answere thee againe peaceably, and open vnto thee, then let all the people that is founde therein, be tributaries vnto thee, and serue thee.
Legacy Standard Bible
Now it will be that if it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.
Complete Jewish Bible
If it accepts the terms for peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people there are to be put to forced labor and work for you.
Darby Translation
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then all the people that are found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
Easy-to-Read Version
If they accept your offer and open their gates, all the people in that city will become your slaves and be forced to work for you.
George Lamsa Translation
And if the city give you answer of peace, and it open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be servants and tributaries to you, and they shall serve you.
Good News Translation
If they open the gates and surrender, they are all to become your slaves and do forced labor for you.
Literal Translation
And it shall be, if it answers peace to you, and shall open to you, then it shall be that all the people found in it shall be forced laborers for you, and shall serve you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf they answere the peaceably, and open vnto the, then shal all ye people yt is founde therin, be tributaries vnto the, and serue ye.
American Standard Version
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee.
Bible in Basic English
And if it gives you back an answer of peace, opening its doors to you, then all the people in it may be put to forced work as your servants.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if they aunswere thee agayne peaceably, and open vnto thee, then let all the people that is founde therin, be tributaries vnto thee, and serue thee.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee.
King James Version (1611)
And it shall be, if it make thee answere of peace, and open vnto thee, then it shalbe that all the people that is found therein, shall be tributaries vnto thee, and they shall serue thee.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
If then they should answer peaceably to thee, and open to thee, it shall be that all the people found in it shall be tributary and subject to thee.
English Revised Version
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 become tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee.
Berean Standard Bible
If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
If the citee resseyueth, and openeth to thee the yatis, al the puple that is ther ynne schal be saued, and schal serue thee vndur tribut.
Young's Literal Translation
and it hath been, if Peace it answer thee, and hath opened to thee, then it hath come to pass -- all the people who are found in it are to thee for tributaries, and have served thee.
Update Bible Version
And it shall be, if it answers peace to you, and opens to you, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall become slave labor to you, and shall serve you.
Webster's Bible Translation
And it shall be, if it shall make thee answer of peace, and open to thee, then it shall be, [that] all the people [that are] found therein, shall be tributaries to thee, and they shall serve thee.
World English Bible
It shall be, if it make you answer of peace, and open to you, then it shall be, that all the people who are found therein shall become tributary to you, and shall serve you.
New King James Version
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.
New Living Translation
If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labor.
New Life Bible
If they agree to make peace with you and open their gates to you, all the people who are found there will be made to work for you and serve you.
New Revised Standard
If it accepts your terms of peace and surrenders to you, then all the people in it shall serve you at forced labor.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and it shall be if peace, be the answer it giveth thee, and it open unto thee, then shall it be, that, all the people that are found therein, shall become thy tributaries and shall serve thee.
Douay-Rheims Bible
If they receive it, and open the gates to thee, all the people that are therein, shall be saved, and shall serve thee paying tribute.
Revised Standard Version
And if its answer to you is peace and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If it agrees to make peace with you and opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.

Contextual Overview

10"When you advance to a city to fight against it, you shall [first] offer it terms of peace. 11"If that city accepts your terms of peace and opens its gates to you, then all the people who are found in it shall become your forced labor and shall serve you.12"However, if it does not make peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall lay siege to it. 13"When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike down all the men in it with the edge of the sword. 14"Only the women and the children and the animals and everything that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself; and you shall use the spoil of your enemies which the LORD your God has given you. 15"That is what you shall do to all the cities that are very far away from you, which are not among the cities of these nations nearby [which you are to dispossess]. 16"Only in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall not leave alive anything that breathes. 17"But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the LORD your God has commanded you, 18so that they will not teach you to act in accordance with all the detestable practices which they have done [in worship and service] for their gods, and in this way cause you to sin against the LORD your God. 19"When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its [fruit-bearing] trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged (destroyed) by you?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

tributaries: Leviticus 25:42-46, Joshua 9:22, Joshua 9:23, Joshua 9:27, Joshua 11:19, Joshua 11:20, Joshua 16:10, Judges 1:28, Judges 1:30-35, 1 Kings 9:21, 1 Kings 9:22, Psalms 120:7, Luke 19:14

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 2:26 - with words Deuteronomy 7:2 - make no Joshua 9:6 - We be Joshua 9:8 - General Joshua 9:15 - made peace Joshua 17:13 - put the Judges 11:12 - sent messengers 2 Samuel 20:18 - They were wont 2 Kings 6:22 - wouldest

Cross-References

Genesis 12:12
so when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife'; and they will kill me [to acquire you], but they will let you live.
Genesis 20:1
Now Abraham journeyed from there toward the Negev (the South country), and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he lived temporarily in Gerar.
Genesis 20:4
Now Abimelech had not yet come near her; so he said, "Lord, will you kill a people who are righteous and innocent and blameless [regarding Sarah]?
Genesis 22:12
The LORD said, "Do not reach out [with the knife in] your hand against the boy, and do nothing to [harm] him; for now I know that you fear God [with reverence and profound respect], since you have not withheld from Me your son, your only son [of promise]."
Genesis 26:7
The men of the place asked him about his wife, and he said, "She is my sister," for he was afraid to say, "my wife"—thinking, "the men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah, since she is very beautiful."
Genesis 42:18
Now Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and [you may] live, for I fear God:
Nehemiah 5:15
But the former governors who were [in office] before me put heavy burdens on the people and took food and wine from them in addition to forty shekels of silver [as an excessive monthly salary]; even their servants assumed authority over the people. But I did not do so because of the [reverent] fear of God.
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God [with reverence] and abstained from and turned away from evil [because he honored God].
Job 28:28
"But to man He said, 'Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.'"
Psalms 14:4
Have all the workers of wickedness and injustice no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon the LORD?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace,.... Comply with the terms of peace offered:

and open unto thee; the gates of the city and its garrisons, and deliver all into their hands:

then it shall be that all the people that is found therein; some having made their escape before the surrender of the city:

shall be tributaries unto thee: pay a yearly tax imposed upon them, as the Moabites sometimes did, and which was paid in lambs and rams with the wool, 2 Kings 3:4

and they shall serve thee; not as slaves, or be in continual bondage and servitude; but upon occasion be called out to any public service, as joining them against their enemies, rebuilding palaces and cities, or repairing walls of cities, and the like; and in general acknowledge their dominion over them, and their own subjection to them, by paying an annual tribute, or sending gifts unto them; thus the Moabites, Syrians, and Edomites, became the servants of David, 2 Samuel 8:2.

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.


 
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