Deuteronomy 20:1

Laws Concerning War with Distant Enemies

20:1 When you go to war against your enemies and see chariotry ¹  and troops ²  who outnumber you, do not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, is with you.

Deuteronomy 20:5

20:5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, ³  “Who among you ⁴  has built a new house and not dedicated ⁵  it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else ⁶  dedicate it.

Deuteronomy 20:8

20:8 In addition, the officers are to say to the troops, “Who among you is afraid and fainthearted? He may go home so that he will not make his fellow soldier’s ⁷  heart as fearful ⁸  as his own.”

---

¹ tn Heb “horse and chariot.”

² tn Heb “people.”

³ tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).

⁴ tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).

⁵ tn The Hebrew term חָנַךְ (khanakh) occurs elsewhere only with respect to the dedication of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63 = 2 Chr 7:5). There it has a religious connotation which, indeed, may be the case here as well. The noun form (חָנֻכָּה, khanukah) is associated with the consecration of the great temple altar (2 Chr 7:9) and of the postexilic wall of Jerusalem (Neh 12:27). In Maccabean times the festival of Hanukkah was introduced to celebrate the rededication of the temple following its desecration by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (1 Macc 4:36-61).

⁶ tn Heb “another man.”

⁷ tn Heb “his brother’s.”

⁸ tn Heb “melted.”