Deuteronomy 20:19 — text, Greek, lexicon

Translations

Louis Segond 1910

Si tu fais un long siège pour t'emparer d'une ville avec laquelle tu es en guerre, tu ne détruiras point les arbres en y portant la hache, tu t'en nourriras et tu ne les abattras point; car l'arbre des champs est-il un homme pour être assiégé par toi?

KJV

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 forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field [is] man's [life]) to employ [them] in the siege:

Pericope

Deuteronomy 20:19–202 verses

Related verses

Patristic reading

Philo Judaeus
De Specialibus Legibus (lib. i‑iv)
ήκην ἀνδρῶν ποιεῖσθαι γυναῖκας πόλεμον κατασκευασάντων ὧν 6 βίος εἰρηνικὸς φύσει καὶ κατοικίδιος. 12 Deut. 20,19. οὐ γὰρ ἄνθρωποι μόνον δασμοὺς φέρουσι τοῖς κυρίοις, ἀλλὰ καὶ φυτὰ τοὺς ὠφελιμωτέρους κατὰ τὰς ἐτησίους ὥρας, ὧν ἄνευ ζῆν οὐκ ἔστιν.“ ἀγόνων δὲ καὶ ἐστειρωμένων καὶ τῶ…
Philo Judaeus
De Virtutibus
teri (Turn.) 15 τέως] τε S 16 γενέσθαι] γενήσεσθαι coni. Mang. 17 ταμιευσαμένο] τοὺς βιασαμένους A 9 Deut. 20,19. τῶν ἐπ’ ὠφελείᾳ διὰ τὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος ἀδηλότητα. πάνυ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο καλῶς εἴρηται τοῖς παλαιοῖς, ὅτι καὶ φιλίας κοινωνητέον μὴ ἀπογινώσκοντας ἔχθραν καὶ προσκρουστέον ὡς…
Thomas Aquinas
Summa Theologica
s like: so also every man him that is nearest to himself." Therefore the Lord unsuitably commanded ( Dt. 20:13-19 ) that all the inhabitants of a captured hostile city were to be slain, but that the fruit-trees should not be cut down. Objection 5: Further, every one should prefer…

Go deeper

For an immersive study of Deuteronomy 20:19 — meditation, lectio divina, exegesis, theology — discover Open Study Bible.

Full study →