Deuteronomy 20 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 4 Similar 2 Different 12 Divergent 0 Disparate 2
Disparate in this chapter: 20:11, 20:17
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Priest's Encouragement
20:1 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:1 When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, chariots, and people more numerous than you, do not fear them, for YHWH your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Greek · Saints priority
20:1 If you go out to war against your enemies and see horses, riders, and people more numerous than you, do not fear them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
Text: Greek names riders where Hebrew names chariots. The collective military language and exodus assurance are retained.
20:2 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:2 When you draw near to battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
Greek · Saints priority
20:2 When you draw near to battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
Text: Both assign the pre-battle address to the priest; Hebrew addresses the approaching troops in the plural, Greek collectively in the singular.
20:3 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:3 He shall say to them: Hear, Israel! Today you are approaching battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart; do not fear, panic, or be terrified before them,
Greek · Saints priority
20:3 He shall say to them: Hear, Israel! Today you are advancing into battle against your enemies. Do not lose heart; do not fear, be broken, or turn aside before them,
Text: Greek ends with an explicit prohibition on turning aside; Hebrew ends with terror. The cluster of courage commands has a different final action.
20:4 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:4 for YHWH your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies and save you.
Greek · Saints priority
20:4 for the Lord your God goes ahead with you to fight alongside you against your enemies and save you.
Text: Greek explicitly depicts God going ahead and fighting alongside the people. Hebrew says going with and fighting for them.
Exemptions from Military Service
20:5 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:5 The officers shall tell the people: Who has built a new house but not dedicated it? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.
Greek · Saints priority
20:5 The scribes shall tell the people: Who has built a new house but not dedicated it? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.
Text: Greek identifies the officials as scribes. The new-house exemption and its reason agree.
20:6 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:6 Who has planted a vineyard but not put its fruit to ordinary use? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man put it to use.
Greek · Saints priority
20:6 Who has planted a vineyard but not enjoyed it? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man enjoy it.
Text: Hebrew uses the technical release-to-ordinary-use verb, ḥillel; Greek describes enjoyment. The first benefit of the vineyard is the common concern.
20:7 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:7 Who has become betrothed to a wife but not taken her in marriage? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man take her.
Greek · Saints priority
20:7 Who has become betrothed to a wife but not taken her in marriage? Let him return home, lest he die in battle and another man take her.
Text: Both distinguish betrothal from taking the wife into the marital household.
20:8 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:8 The officers shall continue speaking to the people: Who is afraid and fainthearted? Let him return home, so that he does not make his brothers’ hearts melt like his own.
Greek · Saints priority
20:8 The scribes shall continue speaking to the people: Who is afraid and timid at heart? Let him return home, so that he does not make his brother’s heart timid like his own.
Text: Greek names scribes, uses singular brother, and expresses timidity without the Hebrew melting image. Both concern fear spreading to fellow troops.
Rabbinic: Rashi reports Rabbi Akiva’s reading of ordinary battle fear and Rabbi Jose the Galilean’s reading of fear arising from sins. The latter is an interpretation, not an added word in the verse. Rashi, Deut. 20:8
20:9 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:9 When the officers finish speaking to the people, they shall appoint army commanders at the people’s head.
Greek · Saints priority
20:9 When the scribes finish speaking to the people, they shall appoint army commanders to lead the people.
Text: Greek again names scribes and expresses the commanders’ leading activity explicitly. Both place commanders over the troops.
Rules for Distant Cities
20:10 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:10 When you approach a city to fight against it, offer it peace.
Greek · Saints priority
20:10 If you approach a city to wage war against it, call its people out with an offer of peace.
Text: Hebrew addresses the city collectively; Greek calls out its people. Both require the initial peace offer.
Rabbinic: Rashi limits this section to an optional war, citing the distinction concerning distant cities in verse 15. Rashi, Deut. 20:10
20:11 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:11 If it answers you peacefully and opens to you, all the people found in it shall be subject to forced labor for you and serve you.
Greek · Saints priority
20:11 If they answer you peacefully and open to you, all the people found in it shall pay you tribute and be subject to you.
Text: Hebrew mas and serve describe compulsory labor and service; Greek explicitly describes tribute-paying and subjection. Both impose domination, but the stated form of obligation differs.
20:12 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:12 If it will not make peace with you but makes war against you, besiege it.
Greek · Saints priority
20:12 If they will not submit to you but make war against you, besiege it.
Text: Hebrew speaks of refusing peace; Greek of refusing obedience or submission. Both then prescribe siege.
20:13 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:13 YHWH your God will hand it over to you, and you shall strike down every male in it with the sword.
Greek · Saints priority
20:13 The Lord your God will hand it over to you, and you shall kill every male in it with the sword.
Text: Both prescribe killing every male. Greek sword-slaughter and Hebrew the sword’s mouth describe the same lethal action.
20:14 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:14 But the women, children, livestock, and everything in the city, all its spoil, you may plunder for yourself. You may eat the spoil of your enemies that YHWH your God has given you.
Greek · Saints priority
20:14 Except for the women and dependent households; all the livestock, everything in the city, and all its equipment you shall plunder for yourself. You may eat all the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.
Text: Greek aposkeuē can denote baggage or the accompanying household; dependent households suits its contrast with fighting males here. Hebrew explicitly names children. Greek adds all to the spoil eaten; neither wording implies humane treatment of captives.
20:15 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:15 Do this to all the cities very far from you that do not belong to these nations.
Greek · Saints priority
20:15 Do this to all the cities very far from you that do not belong to these nations,
Text: Both distinguish the distant cities from the cities named in the following command.
Destruction of the Canaanite Nations
20:16 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:16 But in the cities of these peoples that YHWH your God is giving you as an inheritance, leave nothing that breathes alive.
Greek · Saints priority
20:16 but look: from the cities of these nations whose land the Lord your God gives you to inherit, take nothing that breathes alive.
Text: Greek explicitly mentions inheriting their land and uses taking alive; Hebrew says keeping alive. Both prohibit survivors in the stated conquest setting. The corrupted Hebrew draft sentence has been repaired.
20:17 Disparate
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:17 Devote them completely to destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, as YHWH your God commanded you,
Greek · Saints priority
20:17 Devote them completely to destruction: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, Jebusites, and Girgashites, as the Lord your God commanded you,
Text: Greek adds the Girgashites, expanding the peoples expressly placed under the destruction command. The ban is not translated as benign dedication in either column.
20:18 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:18 so that they do not teach you to practice all their abominations that they performed for their gods, causing you to sin against YHWH your God.
Greek · Saints priority
20:18 so that they do not teach you to practice all their abominations that they performed for their gods, causing you to sin before the Lord your God.
Text: Against YHWH becomes before the Lord. The stated warning against learning the nations’ practices agrees.
Preservation of Fruit Trees
20:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:19 When you besiege a city for many days, fighting to capture it, do not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them. You may eat from them; do not cut them down. Is the tree of the field a human being, to come under siege before you?
Greek · Saints priority
20:19 If you surround a city for many days, fighting to capture it, do not destroy its trees by bringing iron against them. You may eat from them; do not cut them down. Is the tree in the field a human being, to enter the siege-works before you?
Text: Greek names iron where Hebrew names an axe and makes the final question explicit. The Hebrew tree-and-human clause is difficult; the interrogative reading used here accords with the siege context, while other construals should remain interpretive alternatives.
20:20 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
20:20 Only a tree you know is not a food tree may you destroy and cut down, building siege-works against the city at war with you until it falls.
Greek · Saints priority
20:20 But a tree you know does not bear edible fruit you may destroy and cut down, building siege-works against the city at war with you until it is surrendered.
Text: Hebrew ends with the city’s falling; Greek with its being handed over. Greek names no surrendering agent here, so into your hands and an explicit divine action have not been added.
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.