What Does Deuteronomy 20:8 Mean?

“further”

to add or augment (often adverbial, to continue to do a thing)

“And the officers”

properly, a scribe, i.e., (by analogy or implication) an official superintendent or magistrate

“shall speak”

perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue

near, with or among; often in general, to

“unto the people”

a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe (as those of israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively, a flock

“and they shall say”

to say (used with great latitude)

who? (occasionally, by a peculiar idiom, of things); also (indefinitely) whoever; often used in oblique construction with prefix or suffix

“What man”

a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation)

“is there that is fearful”

fearing; morally, reverent

“and fainthearted”

tender (literally or figuratively); by implication, weak

“as well as his heart”

the heart (as the most interior organ)

to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)

“and return”

to turn back (hence, away) transitively or intransitively, literally or figuratively (not necessarily with the idea of return to the starting point);

“unto his house”

a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.)

not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often used with other particles

“faint”

to liquefy; figuratively, to waste (with disease), to faint (with fatigue, fear or grief)

properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)

“as well as his heart”

the heart (as the most interior organ)

“lest his brethren's”

a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance [like h0001])

“as well as his heart”

the heart (as the most interior organ)