Only the trees which … are not trees for food: trees that don’t bear fruit may be cut down and the wood used to build siegeworks against the town. Siegeworks included ladders, battering rams, platforms, or towers. In some languages there will not be a single word available like siegeworks, but translators will need to list the objects used to capture the town; for example, “You may cut down other trees and make ladders and towers [or, platforms] to help you get over the walls of the town and capture it” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Good News Translation “siege mounds,” namely mounds made from earth, is misleading because there were also all the other wooden objects listed above that were included in siegeworks.

You may destroy and cut down: one verb will be enough; the most natural way is to say “You may cut them down” or “You may cut down the trees that aren’t fruit trees.”

The city that makes war with you: it should be clear that the Israelites are the aggressors, so something like “the town you are fighting [or, besieging].”

Falls: this verb is used of a town that surrenders to the enemy; see the same verb used in the same context in 28.52. In some languages it will be necessary to talk about the people of the city surrendering, rather than a city “falling.” So alternative models for translation may be “the people of the town you are fighting surrender to you,” or “you capture the people of the town you are fighting.”

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 .