Numbers 31:18

18 The younger women who are virgins you can keep alive for yourselves.

Numbers 31:18 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:18

But all the women children
The females among the little ones:

that have not known a man by lying with him;
which might be pretty clear, and easily concluded, from their age:

keep for yourselves;
either to be handmaids to them, or to be married among them when grown up, and become proselytes, and initiated into their religion.

Numbers 31:18 In-Context

16 They're the ones who, under Balaam's direction, seduced the People of Israel away from God in that mess at Peor, causing the plague that hit God's people.

17 Finish your job: kill all the boys. Kill every woman who has slept with a man.

18 The younger women who are virgins you can keep alive for yourselves.

19 "Now here's what you are to do: Pitch tents outside the camp. All who have killed anyone or touched a corpse must stay outside the camp for seven days. Purify yourselves and your captives on the third and seventh days.

20 Purify every piece of clothing and every utensil - everything made of leather, goat hair, or wood."