When thou goest forth to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, thou shalt not be afraid of them; for Jehovah thy God is with thee, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
And it shall be, when ye draw nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people,
and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye draw nigh this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint; fear not, nor tremble, neither be ye affrighted at them;
for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.
And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, What man is there that hath built a new house, and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it.
And what man is there that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not used the fruit thereof? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man use the fruit thereof.
And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and faint-hearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart melt as his heart.
And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people.
When thou drawest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall become {Or, subject to taskwork}tributary unto thee, and shall serve thee.
And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
and when Jehovah thy God delivereth it into thy hand, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take for a prey unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.
But of the cities of these peoples, that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth;
but thou shalt {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite; as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee;
that they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so would ye sin against Jehovah your God.
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?
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.
Querverweise zu 5. Mose 20,16 5Mo 20,16
When Jehovah thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and shall {Hebrew: pluck off.}cast out many nations before thee, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them;
neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son.
For he will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Jehovah be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.
And thou shalt consume all the peoples that Jehovah thy God shall deliver unto thee; thine eye shall not pity them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.
And Israel vowed a vow unto Jehovah, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will {Hebrew: devote.}utterly destroy their cities.
And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed them and their cities: and the name of the place was called {From the same root as herem, a devoted thing.}Hormah.
So they smote him, and his sons and all his people, until there was none left him remaining: and they possessed his land.
then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images, and demolish all their high places:
And the city shall be devoted, even it and all that is therein, to Jehovah: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
But as for you, only keep yourselves from the devoted thing, lest when ye have devoted it, ye take of the devoted thing; so would ye make the camp of Israel {Hebrew: devoted.}accursed, and trouble it.
But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are holy unto Jehovah: they shall come into the treasury of Jehovah.
So the people shouted, and the priests blew the trumpets; and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout, and the wall fell down {Hebrew: in its place.}flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
And they {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, both young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that Jehovah thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were sore afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing.
And Joshua made them that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of Jehovah, unto this day, in the place which he should choose.
And Joshua took Makkedah on that day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and the king thereof: he {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed them and all the souls that were therein; he left none remaining; and he did to the king of Makkedah as he had done unto the king of Jericho.
So Joshua smote all the land, the hill-country, and the South, and the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings: he left none remaining, but he {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed all that breathed, as Jehovah, the God of Israel, commanded.
And they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, {Hebrew: devoting.}utterly destroying them; there was none left that breathed: and he burnt Hazor with fire.
And all the cities of those kings, and all the kings of them, did Joshua take, and he smote them with the edge of the sword, and {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed them; as Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded.
And all the spoil of these cities, and the cattle, the children of Israel took for a prey unto themselves; but every man they smote with the edge of the sword, until they had destroyed them, neither left they any that breathed.