Deuteronomy 20:19
20:19 If you besiege a city for a long time while attempting to capture it, 1 you must not chop down its trees, 2 for you may eat fruit 3 from them and should not cut them down. A tree in the field is not human that you should besiege it! 4
Deuteronomy 24:19
24:19 Whenever you reap your harvest in your field and leave some unraked grain there, 5 you must not return to get it; it should go to the resident foreigner, orphan, and widow so that the Lord your God may bless all the work you do. 6
1 tn Heb “to fight against it to capture it.”
2 tn Heb “you must not destroy its trees by chopping them with an iron” (i.e., an ax).
3 tn Heb “you may eat from them.” The direct object is not expressed; the word “fruit” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “to go before you in siege.”
5 tn Heb “in the field.”
6 tn Heb “of your hands.” This law was later applied in the story of Ruth who, as a poor widow, was allowed by generous Boaz to glean in his fields (Ruth 2:1-13).