Numbers 31:18
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Numbers 31:18 in other translations
| BSB | but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man. |
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| WEB | But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. |
| ASV | But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. |
| YLT | and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves. |
| DARBY | but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves. |
| BBE | But all the female children who have had no sex relations with men, you may keep for yourselves. |
| Webster | But all the female children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. |
What does Numbers 31:18 mean?
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 31:14-18
14-18. And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host--The displeasure of the great leader, though it appears the ebullition of a fierce and sanguinary temper, arose in reality from a pious and enlightened regard to the best interests of Israel. No order had been given for the slaughter of the women, and in ancient war they were commonly reserved for slaves. By their antecedent conduct, however, the Midianitish…
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Numbers 31:13-18
The sword of war should spare women and children; but the sword of justice should know no distinction, but that of guilty or not guilty. This war was the execution of a righteous sentence upon a guilty nation, in which the women were the worst criminals. The female children were spared, who, being brought up among the Israelites, would not tempt them to idolatry. The whole history shows the hatefulness of sin, and…
Numbers 31:18 in the original Hebrew
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Cross references for Numbers 31:18
- Deuteronomy 21:10-14
When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. …
- Leviticus 25:44
Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
- Deuteronomy 20:14
But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee.
- 2 Chronicles 28:8-10
And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria. But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the Lord God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven. And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the Lord your God?
- Isaiah 14:2
And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the Lord for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Le 25:44; De 20:14; 21:10-14; 2Ch 28:8-10; Isa 14:2
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain
Context
- Numbers 31:17
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
- Numbers 31:18
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
- Numbers 31:19
And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
Numbers 31:18 in other languages
| Spanish Reina-Valera 1909 | Y todas las niñas entre las mujeres, que no hayan conocido ayuntamiento de varón, os reservaréis vivas. |
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| French Bible J.N. Darby 1885 | et vous laisserez en vie, pour vous, tous les enfants, les jeunes filles qui n’ont pas eu compagnie d’homme. |
| German Elberfelder 1871 | aber alle Kinder, alle Mädchen, welche den Beischlaf eines Mannes nicht gekannt haben, laßt euch am Leben. |
| Latin Clementine Vulgate | puellas autem et omnes feminas virgines reservate vobis: |