Numbers 31:18

18 But the young girls who have never slept with a man, 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 Why, these are the ones who - because of Bil'am's advice -caused the people of Isra'el to rebel, breaking faith with ADONAI in the P'or incident, so that the plague broke out among ADONAI's community!

17 Now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has ever slept with a man.

18 But the young girls who have never slept with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

19 Pitch your tents outside the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a person or touched the corpse of someone slain, purify yourselves on the third and seventh days, you and your captives.

20 Also purify every garment, whether of skin or goat's hair, and everything made of wood."