---
title: "Deuteronomy 20:10-20 KJV - \"When thou comest nigh unto a city to f...\" | Real Bible Believers"
description: "\"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of pea\" — Read Deuteronomy 20:10-20 in the King James Version (KJV) with commentary, cross references, and Greek/Hebrew lexicon."
image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20"
---

[ Read](/kjv/deuteronomy/20)[ Commentary](/study/deuteronomy/20)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/deuteronomy/20) Audio

## Deuteronomy 20:10-20 in Context (Verses 7–20 KJV)
 
 [7 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/7) 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.
 
 [8 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/8) And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man *is there that is* fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.*
 
 [9 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/9) And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.*
 
 [10 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10) ¶ When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it.
 
 [11 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/11) And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, *that* all the people *that is* found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.
 
 [12 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/12) And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:
 
 [13 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/13) And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword:
 
 [14 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/14) 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 unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.*
 
 [15 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/15) Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities *which are* very far off from thee, which *are* not of the cities of these nations.
 
 [16 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/16) But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee *for* an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
 
 [17 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/17) But thou shalt utterly destroy them; *namely*, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
 
 [18 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/18) That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.
 
 [19 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/19) ¶ 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:**
 
 [20 ](/kjv/deuteronomy/20/20) Only the trees which thou knowest that they *be* not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued.*
 
[Deuteronomy 19](/kjv/deuteronomy/19) [Deuteronomy 21](/kjv/deuteronomy/21)

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20","name":"Deuteronomy 20:10-20 KJV - \"When thou comest nigh unto a city to f...\" | Real Bible Believers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"\"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of pea\" — Read Deuteronomy 20:10-20 in the King James Version (KJV) with commentary, cross references, and Greek/Hebrew lexicon.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv","name":"KJV Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy","name":"Deuteronomy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20","name":"20"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/kjv/deuteronomy/20/10-20","name":"Verse 10-20"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]}
```