Deuteronomy 20:15-20

Expanded Bible

¹⁵ Do this to all the cities that are far away, that do not belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ But ·leave nothing alive [^Ldo not let anything that breathes live] in the cities of the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ¹⁷ ·Completely destroy [Devote to the Lord; Josh. 6:17] these people: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you what they do for their gods, and if you do these ·hateful [detestable; abhorrent; abominable] things, you will sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ If you ·surround [besiege] and attack a city for ·a long time [^Lmany days], trying to capture it, do not destroy its trees with an ax. You can eat the fruit from the trees, but do not cut them down. ·These trees are not the enemy, so don’t make war against them [^LAre these trees of the field human that you should go against them in siege?]. ²⁰ But you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build devices to attack the city walls, until the city is captured.