Deuteronomy 20:20 - The Scriptures 1998

²⁰ “Only the trees which you know are not trees for food you do destroy and cut down, to build siege-works against the city that is fighting against 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."

Deuteronomy 20:20 Cross References

2 Kings 3:19

“And you shall smite every walled city and every choice city, and shall cut down every good tree, and stop up every fountain of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.”

2 Chronicles 26:15

And he made machines in Yerushalayim, devised by skilled men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. And his name spread far and wide, for he was marvellously helped till he became strong.

Ecclesiastes 9:14

A little city, and few men in it, and a great sovereign came against it, and besieged it, and built huge siege-works against it.

Isaiah 37:33

“Therefore thus said יהוה  concerning the sovereign of Ashshur, ‘He does not come into this city, nor does he shoot an arrow there, nor does he come before it with shield, nor does he build a siege mound against it.

Jeremiah 33:4

“For thus said יהוה, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕ

Jeremiah 6:6

For thus said יהוה  of hosts, “Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege mound against Yerushalayim. She is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression.

Ezekiel 17:17

‘And Pharaoh with his great army and great company is not going to help him in battle, when they heap up a siege mound and build a wall to cut off many beings.

Deuteronomy 1:28

‘Where are we going to? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we, the cities are great and walled up to the heavens, and we saw the sons of the Anaqim there too.” ’

Deuteronomy 20:19

“When you besiege a city for a long time by fighting against it to take it, you do not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. If you do eat of them, do not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man to be besieged by you?

Deuteronomy 21:1

“When anyone is found slain, lying in the field in the land which יהוה  your Elohim is giving you to possess, and it is not known who smote him,