Numbers 31:17-27

17 And therefore slay ye all the men, whatever is of male kind, and the little children (And so kill ye all the men, yea, whoever is a male, and all the little children); and strangle ye the women that have known men fleshly;
18 soothly keep ye to you the young damsels, and all women virgins, (but you can keep for yourselves the young girls, and all the women who still be virgins,)
19 and dwell ye without the tents seven days. He that slayeth a man, or toucheth a slain man, shall be cleansed in the third [day], and the seventh day; (and then stay ye away from the tents for seven days. He who killeth a man, or toucheth a dead man, must cleanse both himself, and his captives, on the third day, and on the seventh day;)
20 and of all the prey, whether it is cloth, or vessel, and anything made ready to things pertaining to use, of the skins and hairs of goats, and wood, it shall be cleansed. (and all the spoils, whether it is a cloak, or a vessel, or anything made out of skin, or of goat hair, or of wood, must also be made clean, or purified.)
21 And Eleazar, the priest, spake thus to the men of the host that fought, This is the commandment of the law, which the Lord commanded to Moses,
22 The gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and tin, and lead,
23 and all thing that may pass by (the) flame, shall be purged by fire; soothly whatever thing may not suffer fire, shall be hallowed with the water of cleansing. (and all the things that can pass through the flame, shall be purified by fire; but whatever thing cannot survive the flame, shall be made clean with the water of cleansing, or of purification.)
24 And ye shall wash your clothes in the seventh day, and ye shall be cleansed; and afterward ye shall enter into the tents. (And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and then ye shall be clean; and afterward ye can return to the tents.)
25 And the Lord said to Moses,
26 Take ye the sum, or the number, of those things that be taken, from man till to beast, thou, and Eleazar, [the] priest, and all the princes of the common people.
27 And thou shalt part evenly the prey betwixt them that fought and went out to battle, and betwixt all the other multitude. (And thou shalt evenly divide the spoils between those who went out to the battle and fought, and all the other multitude.)

Numbers 31:17-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 31

This chapter contains an order to make war upon Midian, which was accordingly done, Nu 31:1-12, but Moses was wroth, because they saved the women alive, who, through the counsel of Balaam, had been the cause of sin, and of the plague for it in Israel, and therefore orders them, and the male children, to be slain, Nu 31:13-18, and then directs to the purification of the soldiers, their captives and spoil, Nu 31:19-24, and by the command of God an account is taken of the prey, and a division of it made between the soldiers and the congregation, and out of each part a tribute is levied for the Lord, Nu 31:25-31 and the sum of the whole booty is given, Nu 31:32-35 and of the part which belonged to the soldiers, and of the tribute given to the Lord, Nu 31:36-41 and of the part which belonged to the children of Israel, Nu 31:42-47 and besides the above tribute to the Lord, the officers made a voluntary oblation out of their spoil, both by way of gratitude for sparing their lives, and to make atonement for their souls, Nu 31:48-54.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.