Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 20:5-9 
Context20:5 Moreover, the officers are to say to the troops, 1 “Who among you 2 has built a new house and not dedicated 3 it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else 4 dedicate it. 20:6 Or who among you has planted a vineyard and not benefited from it? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else benefit from it. 20:7 Or who among you 5 has become engaged to a woman but has not married her? He may go home, lest he die in battle and someone else marry her.” 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 6 heart as fearful 7 as his own.” 20:9 Then, when the officers have finished speaking, 8 they must appoint unit commanders 9 to lead the troops.
1 tn Heb “people” (also in vv. 8, 9).
2 tn Heb “Who [is] the man” (also in vv. 6, 7, 8).
3 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).
4 tn Heb “another man.”
5 tn Heb “Who [is] the man.”
6 tn Heb “his brother’s.”
7 tn Heb “melted.”
8 tn The Hebrew text includes “to the people,” but this phrase has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn Heb “princes of hosts.”
