Numbers 31:18

18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, 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 These women here, on Balaam's advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.

17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.

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

19 Camp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse, purify yourselves and your captives on the third and on the seventh day.

20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats' hair, and every article of wood."