Deuteronomy 20:18 · 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.”
— Deuteronomy 20:18
But thou shalt utterly destroy them; {namely}, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
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: {for the...: or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be employed in the siege} {to employ...: Heb. to go from before thee}
Deuteronomy 20 — Context
But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee {for} an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth:
17But thou shalt utterly destroy them; {namely}, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee:
18That 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.
19When 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: {for the...: or, for, O man, the tree of the field is to be employed in the siege} {to employ...: Heb. to go from before thee}
20Only the trees which thou knowest that they {be} not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued. {it...: Heb. it come down}
Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:30-31
Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. {by...: Heb. after them}
Exodus 23:33
They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
Ephesians 5:11
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove {them}.
2 Corinthians 6:17
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean {thing}; and I will receive you,
1 Corinthians 15:33
Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
Psalms 106:34-40
They did not destroy the nations, concerning whom the LORD commanded them:
Joshua 23:13
Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out {any of} these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
2 Thessalonians 3:14
And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed. {by...: or, signify that man by an epistle}