Deuteronomy 20:20 - New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition 2021

²⁰ You may destroy only the trees that you know do not produce food; you may cut them down for use in building siegeworks against the town that makes war with you, until it falls.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

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.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

²⁰ Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you until it falls.

American Standard Version (1901)

²⁰ Only the trees of which thou knowest that they are not trees for food, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it fall.

Common English Bible

²⁰ That said, if you know that a tree is not a food-producing tree, you are allowed to destroy it, cutting it down and using it in the siege against the city that is fighting against you until it falls.

Catholic Public Domain Version

²⁰ But if there are any trees which are not fruitful, but are wild, and if these are fit for other uses, then cut them down, and make machines, until you have captured the city that is contending against you."

Douay-Rheims version of The Bible - 1752 version

²⁰ But if there be any trees that are not fruitful, but wild, and fit for other uses: cut them down, and make engines, until thou take the city, which fighteth against thee.

Deuteronomy 20:20 Cross References

2 Kings 3:19

You shall conquer every fortified city and every choice city; every good tree you shall fell, all springs of water you shall stop up, and every good piece of land you shall ruin with stones.”

2 Chronicles 26:15

In Jerusalem he set up machines, invented by skilled workers, on the towers and the corners for shooting arrows and large stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.

Ecclesiastes 9:14

There was a little city with few people in it. A great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it.

Isaiah 37:33

“Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it.

Jeremiah 33:4

For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that were torn down to make a defense against the siege ramps and before the sword:

Jeremiah 6:6

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Cut down her trees; cast up a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This is the city that must be punished; there is nothing but oppression within her.

Ezekiel 17:17

Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, when ramps are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives.

Deuteronomy 1:28

Where are we headed? Our kindred have made our hearts melt by reporting, “The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven! We actually saw there the offspring of the Anakim!” ’

Deuteronomy 20:19

“If you besiege a town for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. Although you may take food from them, you must not cut them down. Are trees in the field human beings that they should come under siege from you?

Deuteronomy 21:1

“If, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, a body is found lying in open country, and it is not known who struck the person down,