Deuteronomy 20:13

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
When the Lord your God hands it over to you, strike down all its males with the sword.

Hebrew Names Version
and when the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:

King James Version
And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

Lexham English Bible
And Yahweh your God will give it into your hand, and you shall kill all its males with the edge of the sword.

English Standard Version
And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword,

New Century Version
The Lord your God will give it to you. Then kill all the men with your swords,

New English Translation
The Lord your God will deliver it over to you and you must kill every single male by the sword.

Amplified Bible
"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.

New American Standard Bible
"When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lord thy God shall deliuer it into thine handes, and thou shalt smite all the males thereof with the edge of the sworde.

Legacy Standard Bible
And Yahweh your God shall give it into your hand, and you shall strike all the males in it with the edge of the sword.

Complete Jewish Bible
When Adonai your God hands it over to you, you are to put every male to the sword.

Darby Translation
and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

Easy-to-Read Version
And when the Lord your God lets you take the city, you must kill all the men in it.

George Lamsa Translation
And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall slay all its males with the edge of the sword;

Good News Translation
Then, when the Lord your God lets you capture the city, kill every man in it.

Literal Translation
And Jehovah your God shall give it into your hand; and you shall strike every male of it by the mouth of the sword.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and whan the LORDE thy God delyuereth it in to thy hande, thou shalt smyte all the males that are therin, with the edge of the swerde:

American Standard Version
and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

Bible in Basic English
And when the Lord your God has given it into your hands, let every male in it be put to death without mercy.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And when the Lorde thy God hath deliuered it into thine handes, thou shalt smyte all the males therof with the edge of the sworde:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And when the LORD thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword;

King James Version (1611)
And when the Lord thy God hath deliuered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite euery male thereof with the edge of the sword.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
until the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, and thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

English Revised Version
and when the LORD thy God delivereth it into thine hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

Berean Standard Bible
When the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you must strike down every male with the sword.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne thi Lord God hath bitake it in thin hond, thou schalt smyte bi the scharpnesse of swerd al thing of male kynde which is ther ynne,

Young's Literal Translation
and Jehovah thy God hath given it into thy hand, and thou hast smitten every male of it by the mouth of the sword.

Update Bible Version
and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:

Webster's Bible Translation
And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of it with the edge of the sword:

World English Bible
and when Yahweh your God delivers it into your hand, you shall strike every male of it with the edge of the sword:

New King James Version
And when the LORD your God delivers it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword.

New Living Translation
When the Lord your God hands the town over to you, use your swords to kill every man in the town.

New Life Bible
When the Lord your God gives the city to you, you must kill all the men in it with the sword.

New Revised Standard
and when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
and Yahweh thy God will deliver it into thy hand, - and thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when the Lord thy God shall deliver it into thy hands, thou shalt slay all that are therein of the male sex, with the edge of the sword,

Revised Standard Version
and when the LORD your God gives it into your hand you shall put all its males to the sword,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"When the LORD your God gives it into your hand, you shall strike all the men in it with the edge of the sword.

Contextual Overview

¹⁰When you come up against a city to attack it, call out, "Peace?" If they answer, "Yes, peace!" and open the city to you, then everyone found there will be conscripted as forced laborers and work for you. But if they don't settle for peace and insist on war, then go ahead and attack. God , your God, will give them to you. Kill all the men with your swords. But don't kill the women and children and animals. Everything inside the town you can take as plunder for you to use and eat— God , your God, gives it to you. This is the way you deal with the distant towns, the towns that don't belong to the nations at hand. ¹⁶But with the towns of the people that God , your God, is giving you as an inheritance, it's different: don't leave anyone alive. Consign them to holy destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, obeying the command of God , your God. This is so there won't be any of them left to teach you to practice the abominations that they engage in with their gods and you end up sinning against God , your God. ¹⁹When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don't start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don't cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons? The exception can be those trees which don't produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thou shalt smite: Numbers 31:7-9, Numbers 31:17, Numbers 31:18, 1 Kings 11:15, 1 Kings 11:16, Psalms 2:6-12, Psalms 21:8, Psalms 21:9, Psalms 110:1, Luke 19:27, 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9

Reciprocal: Numbers 31:15 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 12:1
God told Abram: "Leave your country, your family, and your father's home for a land that I will show you.

Genesis 12:9
Abram kept moving, steadily making his way south, to the Negev.

Genesis 20:3
Abraham traveled from there south to the Negev and settled down between Kadesh and Shur. While he was camping in Gerar, Abraham said of his wife Sarah, "She's my sister." So Abimelech, king of Gerar, sent for Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream that night and told him, "You're as good as dead—that woman you took, she's a married woman."

Genesis 20:11
Abraham said, "I just assumed that there was no fear of God in this place and that they'd kill me to get my wife. Besides, the truth is that she is my half sister; she's my father's daughter but not my mother's. When God sent me out as a wanderer from my father's home, I told her, ‘Do me a favor; wherever we go, tell people that I'm your brother.'"

1 Samuel 23:21
Saul said, " God bless you for thinking about me! Now go back and check everything out. Learn his routines. Observe his movements—where he goes, who he's with. He's very shrewd, you know. Scout out all his hiding places. Then meet me at Nacon and I'll go with you. If he is anywhere to be found in all the thousands of Judah, I'll track him down!"

Acts 5:9
Peter responded, "What's going on here that you connived to conspire against the Spirit of the Master? The men who buried your husband are at the door, and you're next." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than she also fell down, dead. When the young men returned they found her body. They carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Hebrews 11:8
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands,.... When, what with pressures without, and calamities within, the city is obliged to surrender: this is not to be imputed to the methods and arts of war used in besieging, or to the courage and skill of the besiegers; but to the power and providence of God succeeding means used, and sending famine or pestilence among the besieged, and inclining their hearts to deliver up their city:

thou shall smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword; the men in it, grown persons, as distinguished from little ones in the next verse; because it was owing to these it was not surrendered at once, when terms of peace were offered.

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.