Numbers 25:17
in Numbers 25“Attack the Midianites and strike them dead.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Vex the Midianites, and smite them;
KJV
Vex the Midianites, and smite them:
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This verse in Numbers 25
Commentary
5 notes on this verseVex the Midianites, etc. - See this order fulfilled, Numbers 31:1-20. Twelve thousand Israelites attacked the Midianites, destroyed all their cities, slew their five kings, every male, and every grown up woman, and took all their spoils.
This site's exposition
Vex the Midianites, and smite them
on Numbers 25:17-18
The war is ordered against Midian while verse 1 named the daughters of Moab, and verse 18 gives the ground as the wiles by which they beguiled Israel in the matter of Peor. Moab is handled another way, since Deuteronomy 23:3-6 shuts the Moabite out of the congregation and names the hiring of Balaam in the same breath. The order given here is carried out in Numbers 31, and verse 16 of that chapter is where the counsel is finally traced to Balaam.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The Midianites - And why not the Moabites. It is probable the Midianites were most guilty, as in persuading Balak to send for Balaam, chap. xxii, 4, 7. So in the reception of Balaam after Balak had dismissed him, chap. xxxi, 8, and in farther consultation with him, and in contriving the means for the executing of this wicked plot.
Vex the Midianites, and smite them.
Note, We must set ourselves against that, whatever it is, which is an occasion of sin to us, though it be a right eye or a right hand that thus offends us, Matt. v. 29, 30 . This is that holy indignation and revenge which godly sorrow worketh, 2 Cor. vii.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| צָר֖וֹר | tzaror | <to> oppose | H6887 → | 54 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַמִּדְיָנִ֑ים | hamidyanim | the Midianites | H4084 → | 7 times |
| וְהִכִּיתֶ֖ם | vehikitem | and you will strike down | H5221 → | 499 times |
| אוֹתָֽם׃ | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
צָר֖וֹר<to> oppose
tzarorH6887 →54 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַמִּדְיָנִ֑יםthe Midianites
hamidyanimH4084 →7 times
וְהִכִּיתֶ֖םand you will strike down
vehikitemH5221 →499 times
אוֹתָֽם׃<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 18:6Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:29
Summon the archers against Babylon, all who string the bow. Encamp all around her; let no one escape. Repay her according to her deeds; do to her as she has done. For she has…
- Psalms 137:8
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.
- Jeremiah 51:24
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 50:15
Raise a war cry against her on every side! She has thrown up her hands in surrender; her towers have fallen; her walls are torn down. Since this is the vengeance of the LORD,…
- Revelation 16:19
The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His…
- Jeremiah 50:29
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.