Deuteronomy 20:20 - Revised Version with Apocrypha 1895

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 fall.

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

And ye shall smite every fenced city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all fountains of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones.

2 Chronicles 26:15

And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the battlements, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.

Ecclesiastes 9:14

There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it:

Isaiah 37:33

Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come unto this city, nor shoot an arrow there, neither shall he come before it with shield, nor cast a mount against it.

Jeremiah 33:4

For thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defence against the mounts, and against the sword:

Jeremiah 6:6

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast up a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

Ezekiel 17:17

Neither shall Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company make for him in the war, when they cast up mounts and build forts, to cut off many persons.

Deuteronomy 1:28

Whither are we going up? our brethren have made our heart to melt, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and fenced up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.

Deuteronomy 20:19

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 wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee?

Deuteronomy 21:1

If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath smitten him: