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Deuteronomy 20:9

in Deuteronomy 20

When the officers have finished addressing the army, they are to appoint commanders to lead it.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall appoint captains of hosts at the head of the people.

KJV

And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the people.

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This verse in Deuteronomy 20

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

Furthermore, the officers are to address the army

on Deuteronomy 20:5-9

Three men go home over things unfinished, a house not dedicated, a vineyard not enjoyed and a bride not married, each “or he may die in battle” and another take it. The release guards a man's stake in the land, and Albert Barnes reads the one-year limit of 24:5 into this list. The fearful go home for the ranks' sake, and Judges 7:3 has Gideon send twenty-two thousand away.

This site's exposition

they are to appoint commanders

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown identify these officers as the shoterim of Exodus 5:6, who kept the army's roll or announced its orders. 2 Chronicles 26:11 names such an officer in Uzziah's army. Commanders to lead the army into battle are appointed once the men sent home have gone.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), for it was in a special manner necessary that the leaders and commanders should be men of courage. That reform therefore must be made when the army was first mustered and marshalled. The soldiers of Christ have need of courage, that they may quit themselves like men, and endure hardness like good soldiers, especially the officers of his army.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And it shall be, when the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The meaning is that the “officers” should then subdivide the levies, and appoint leaders of the smaller divisions thus constituted.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

When you near a city to do battle against it, you are to offer it [ words of ] peace.
Targum · Onkelos Deuteronomy 20:10, via Sefaria, Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 [with Onkelos translation]

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וְהָיָ֛הand it will be

    vehayahH1961 →3559 times

  • כְּכַלֹּ֥תwhen finish

    kekhalotH3615 →208 times

  • הַשֹּׁטְרִ֖יםthe officials

    hashoterimH7860 →25 times

  • לְדַבֵּ֣רto speak

    ledaberH1696 →1141 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הָעָ֑םthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

  • וּפָֽקְד֛וּand they will appoint

    ufakeduH6485 →

  • שָׂרֵ֥יcommanders of

    sareiH8269 →421 times

  • צְבָא֖וֹתarmies

    tzevaotH6635 →485 times

  • בְּרֹ֥אשׁat [the] head of

    beroshH7218 →599 times

  • הָעָֽם׃ סthe people

    haamH5971 →1873 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

About Deuteronomy

Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Moses Viewing the Promised Land, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846. Public domain.
Deuteronomy: the study guide →Read Deuteronomy 20 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Deuteronomy 20 →