But if it makes no peace … but makes war: these are the negative and the positive aspects of the same action. If it is not unnatural to use both forms in a given language, they should be used, for emphasis. An alternative way of expressing these two clauses is “But if the people of that city will not accept your offer of peace, but decide to fight you….” Instead of it, the town, it may be better to say “the inhabitants,” or “the people who live there.”

Besiege it: this means to put troops around the walls of the town, and to use devices to break through the walls, or to climb over them, so that the attackers can enter the town (see further at verse 19). In some languages translators will need to use a descriptive phrase; for example, “then have your fighting men surround the town and attack it.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .