Deuteronomy 20:11

If they accept your offer of peace and open their gates, all the people there will become forced laborers to serve you.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite army on the plains of Moab, establishing military protocol before the conquest of Canaan. He specifies the exact procedure to follow when approaching a foreign city for battle.

The words — The Hebrew אִם־ שָׁלוֹם (im-shalom, "if peace") and תַּעֲנֶה/ךָ (ta'aneh/ka, "it will answer/you") establish the conditional surrender, while כָּל־ הָעָם (kol-ha'am, "all the people") designates the group subjected to labor.

The thread — This conditional surrender mechanism appears in Joshua 9:22-27, where a deceptive peace treaty results in the survivors becoming woodcutters and water carriers for the sanctuary. It operates independently of Leviticus 25:42, which only prohibits selling fellow Israelites into slavery because they belong to God.

Why it lands — The text states that military surrender converts a conquered population into forced labor rather than granting them freedom or extermination. It requires the reader to distinguish between the legal status of conquered foreign nations and the protected status of Israelite kin.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְהָיָה֙ve./ha.Yahand/ it will be אִם־'im-if שָׁל֣וֹםsha.Lompeace תַּֽעַנְךָ֔ta.'an./Khait will answer/ you וּפָתְחָ֖הu./fa.te.Chahand/ it will openלָ֑ךְLa/khto <the>/ youוְהָיָ֞הve./ha.Yahand/ it will be כָּל־kol-all הָעָ֣םha./'Amthe/ people הַנִּמְצָא־ha./nim.tza'-which/ is foundבָ֗הּVa/hin <the>/ itיִהְי֥וּyih.Yuthey will becomeלְךָ֛le./Khafor <the>/ youלָמַ֖סla./Mas<into>/ forced labor וַעֲבָדֽוּךָ׃va./'a.va.Du./khaand/ they will serve/ you

King James Version

And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee.

Cross-references

Leviticus 25:42 Because the Israelites are My servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt, they are not to be sold as slaves.
Joshua 9:22 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by telling us you live far away from us, when in fact you live among us?
Joshua 9:27 On that day he made them woodcutters and water carriers, as they are to this day for the congregation of the LORD and for the altar at the place He would choose.
Joshua 11:19 No city made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites living in Gibeon; all others were taken in battle.
Joshua 16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer. So the Canaanites dwell among the Ephraimites to this day, but they are forced laborers.
Judges 1:28 When Israel became stronger, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor, but they never drove them out completely.
Judges 1:30 Zebulun failed to drive out the inhabitants of Kitron and Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and served as forced laborers.
1 Kings 9:21 their descendants who remained in the land, those whom the Israelites were unable to devote to destruction—Solomon conscripted these people to be forced laborers, as they are to this day.
Psalms 120:7 I am in favor of peace; but when I speak, they want war.
Luke 19:14 But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not want this man to rule over us.’