Numbers 31:18

18 But all the young girls who have not known a man intimately by sleeping with him, spare 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 These very women, on Balaam's advice, made the Israelites break faith with the LORD in the affair at Peor, so there was a plague among the LORD's community.

17 Now kill every male child and every female who has known a man intimately by sleeping with him.

18 But all the young girls who have not known a man intimately by sleeping with him, spare for yourselves.

19 You will remain outside the camp for seven days. Everyone among you or your captives who has killed a person or touched a corpse must purify themselves on the third and seventh days.

20 You must also purify every garment, and everything made of leather, goats' hair, or wood."