16 Whenever you capture towns in the land the Lord your God is giving you, be sure to kill all the people and animals.
17 He has commanded you to completely wipe out the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
18 If you allow them to live, they will persuade you to worship their disgusting gods, and you will be unfaithful to the Lord.
19 When you are attacking a town, don't chop down its fruit trees, not even if you have had the town surrounded for a long time. Fruit trees aren't your enemies, and they produce food that you can eat, so don't cut them down.
20 You may need wood to make ladders and towers to help you get over the walls and capture the town. But use only trees that you know are not fruit trees.