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19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it,[a] you must not chop down its trees,[b] for you may eat fruit[c] from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it![d]

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”
  2. Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).
  3. Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
  4. Deuteronomy 20:19 tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”