Deuteronomy 20:19

New International Reader's Version

Suppose you surround a city and get ready to attack it. And suppose you fight against it for a long time in order to capture it. Then don’t chop down its trees and destroy them. You can eat their fruit. So don’t cut them down. Are the trees people? So why should you attack them?

Cross References

2 Kings 3:19

You will destroy every city that has high walls around it. You will destroy every major town. You will cut down every good tree. You will stop up all the springs of water. And you will cover every good field with stones.”

2 Kings 3:25

They destroyed the towns. Each man threw a large stone on every good field. They did that until the fields were covered. They stopped up all the springs of water. And they cut down every good tree. The only town left with any stones in place was Kir Hareseth. But some of the Israelites armed with slings surrounded it. Then they attacked it.

Jeremiah 6:6

The Lord who rules over all speaks to the Babylonians. He says, “Cut down some trees. Use the wood to build ramps against Jerusalem’s walls. I must punish that city. It is filled with people who treat others badly.

Matthew 21:19

He saw a fig tree by the road. He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Right away the tree dried up.

Matthew 3:10

The ax is ready to cut the roots of the trees. All the trees that don’t produce good fruit will be cut down. They will be thrown into the fire.

Deuteronomy 20:18

If you don’t destroy them, they’ll teach you to do all the things the Lord hates. He hates the way they worship their gods. If you do those things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 20:20

But you can cut down trees that you know aren’t fruit trees. You can build war machines out of their wood. You can use them until you capture the city you are fighting against.

Deuteronomy 26:6

But the people of Egypt treated us badly. They made us suffer. They made us work very hard.