English Standard Version
Deuteronomy 20:18
18that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 20:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.
- New King James Version (NKJV)lest they teach you to do according to all their abominations which they have done for their gods, and you sin against the Lord your God.
- New Living Translation (NLT)This will prevent the people of the land from teaching you to imitate their detestable customs in the worship of their gods, which would cause you to sin deeply against the Lord your God.
Context of Deuteronomy 20:18
16But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. 19"When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? 20Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.
Read all of Deuteronomy 20Deuteronomy 20:18 word by word
לְמַ֗עַן אֲשֶׁ֨ר לֹֽא־יְלַמְּד֤וּ אֶתְכֶם֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת כְּכֹל֙ תּֽוֹעֲבֹתָ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ לֵֽאלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם וַחֲטָאתֶ֖ם לַיהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 20:18
- Deuteronomy 7:4for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
- Deuteronomy 12:30take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.'
- Deuteronomy 18:19And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
- Exodus 23:33They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you."
- Joshua 23:13know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you, but they shall be a snare and a trap for you, a whip on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from off this good ground that the Lord your God has given you.
- Judges 2:3So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
- Psalms 106:34They did not destroy the peoples, as the Lord commanded them,
- 1 Corinthians 15:33Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."
- 2 Corinthians 6:17Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
- Ephesians 5:11Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
- 2 Thessalonians 3:14If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed.
- 1 Timothy 6:5and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.
- 2 Timothy 2:17and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
- Revelation 18:3For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living."
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20:18
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10-20Verses 10-20 Directions intended to prevent wanton destruction of life and property in sieges. Deuteronomy 20:16 Forbearance, however, was not to be shown toward the Canaanite nations, which were to be utterly exterminated (compare Deuteronomy 7:1-4). The command did not apply to beasts as well as men (compare Joshua 11:11, Joshua 11:14). Deuteronomy 20:19 The parenthesis may he more literally rendered “for man is a tree of the field,” i. e., has his life…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 10-2010-20. When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it--An important principle is here introduced into the war law of Israel regarding the people they fought against and the cities they besieged. With "the cities of those people which God doth give thee" in Canaan, it was to be a war of utter extermination (De 20:17, 18). But when on a just occasion, they went against other nations, they were first to make a proclamation…Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 20:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries