Numbers 31:10

10 All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned,

Numbers 31:10 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 31:10

And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt
} So far as they went into the country, which, perhaps, might not be the whole land of Midian:

and all their goodly castles with fire;
which were either the palaces of their princes and nobles, or such like great personages; or they were fortified places, for the security of their cities and country: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret them of their houses of worship, their temples, and their altars.

Numbers 31:10 In-Context

8 They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them; and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9 The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive; and they took all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods as booty.
10 All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned,
11 but they took all the spoil and all the booty, both people and animals.
12 Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.