Deuteronomy 20:19
BSB · Public Domain (CC0)“When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?”
A short, plain-language explanation of Deuteronomy 20:19 goes here — the kind of answer a reader (or an AI assistant) can quote in one breath. Original meaning coming soon.
“When you lay siege to a city for an extended time while fighting against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by putting an axe to them, because you can eat their fruit. You must not cut them down. Are the trees of the field human, that you should besiege them?”
Berean Standard Bible · Public Domain (CC0)“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:”
King James Version · Public Domain“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?”
American Standard Version · Public Domain“`When thou layest siege unto a city many days, to fight against it, to capture it, thou dost not destroy its trees to force an axe against them, for of them thou dost eat, and them thou dost not cut down--for man's <FI>is<Fi> the tree of the field--to go in at thy presence in the siege.”
Young's Literal Translation · Public DomainOther passages that echo Deuteronomy 20:19 — 8 related verses from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- Deuteronomy 26:6But the Egyptians mistreated us and afflicted us, putting us to hard labor.
- 2 Kings 3:19And you shall attack every fortified city and every city of importance. You shall cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.”
- 2 Kings 3:25They destroyed the cities, and each man threw stones on every good field until it was covered. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only Kir-haraseth was left with stones in place, but men with slings surrounded it and attacked it as well.
- Matthew 3:10The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
- Matthew 7:15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- Matthew 21:19Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said. And immediately the tree withered.
- Luke 13:7So he said to the keeper of the vineyard, ‘Look, for the past three years I have come to search for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Therefore cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
- John 15:2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
Cross-reference data: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain) via OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).