New Living Translation (NLT)
Deuteronomy 20
17 You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.
18 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.
19 “When you are attacking a town and the war drags on, you must not cut down the trees with your axes. You may eat the fruit, but do not cut down the trees. Are the trees your enemies, that you should attack them?
20 You may only cut down trees that you know are not valuable for food. Use them to make the equipment you need to attack the enemy town until it falls.
Deuteronomy 21
1 “When you are in the land the LORD your God is giving you, someone may be found murdered in a field, and you don’t know who committed the murder.
2 In such a case, your elders and judges must measure the distance from the site of the crime to the nearby towns.
3 When the nearest town has been determined, that town’s elders must select from the herd a young cow that has never been trained or yoked to a plow.
4 They must lead it down to a valley that has not been plowed or planted and that has a stream running through it. There in the valley they must break the young cow’s neck.
5 Then the Levitical priests must step forward, for the LORD your God has chosen them to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in the LORD’s name. They are to decide all legal and criminal cases.
6 “The elders of the town must wash their hands over the young cow whose neck was broken.
7 Then they must say, ‘Our hands did not shed this person’s blood, nor did we see it happen.
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