¹⁸ so that they will not teach you to act in accordance with all the detestable practices which they have done [in worship and service] for their gods, and in this way cause you to sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ “When you besiege a city for ^[a]a long time, making war against it in order to capture it, you shall not destroy its [fruit-bearing] trees by swinging an axe against them; for you may eat from them, and you shall not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man, that it should be besieged (destroyed) by you? ²⁰ Only the trees which you know are not ^[b]fruit trees shall you destroy and cut down, so that you may build ^[c]siegeworks against the city that is making war with you until it falls.