Numbers 31:10
in Numbers 31Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites had lived, as well as all their encampments,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And all their cities in the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire.
KJV
And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
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This verse in Numbers 31
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, &c. ) So far as they went into the country, which, perhaps, might not be the whole land of Midian: and all their goodly castles with fire; which were either the palaces of their princes and nobles, or such like great personages; or they were fortified places, for the security of their cities and country: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan interpret them of their houses of worship, their temples, and their altars.
This site's exposition
delivered out of the thousands of Israel
on Numbers 31:5-12
Twelve thousand men go out, and Phinehas goes with them carrying the holy instruments and the trumpets, which Numbers 10:9 had appointed for war so that Israel would be remembered before the Lord. Phinehas is the man who stopped the plague at Peor in chapter 25, and Balaam falls in this battle among the five kings of Midian. Joshua 13:21-22 lists the same five as princes of Midian who were dukes of Sihon, and names Balaam the soothsayer slain with the sword among them. The narrative had last left him at 24:25, rising up and returning to his place.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), not designing to inhabit them themselves (that country was out of their line), but they thus prevented those who had made their escape from sheltering themselves in their own country and settling there again. Some understand it of their idol-temples; it was fit that they should share in this vengeance.
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20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood. 21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the L ORD commanded Moses;
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The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Goodly castles - Rather, both here and in Gen 25:16, hamlets. The word is derived from a word טוּר ṭûr,) signifying “a row” or “range” (compare Eze 46:23); and probably indicates those collections of rude dwellings, made of stones piled one on another and covered with tent-cloths, which are used by the Arabs to this day; and which are frequently mentioned as douars in narratives of the French campaigns in Algeria. These dwellings would be formed usually in a circle. See the word “Hazeroth,” in Num 11:35.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
All their residential cities and palaces [ houses of worship ] they set on fire.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֵ֤ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עָרֵיהֶם֙ | ʾareihem | cities their | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| בְּמ֣וֹשְׁבֹתָ֔ם | bemooshevotam | in dwelling places their | H4186 → | 44 times |
| וְאֵ֖ת | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| טִֽירֹתָ֑ם | tirotam | encampments their | H2918 → | |
| שָׂרְפ֖וּ | sarefu | they burned | H8313 → | 117 times |
| בָּאֵֽשׁ׃ | baesh | with <the> fire | H784 → | 378 times |
וְאֵ֤תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עָרֵיהֶם֙cities their
ʾareihemH5892 →1090 times
בְּמ֣וֹשְׁבֹתָ֔םin dwelling places their
bemooshevotamH4186 →44 times
וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
טִֽירֹתָ֑םencampments their
tirotamH2918 →
שָׂרְפ֖וּthey burned
sarefuH8313 →117 times
בָּאֵֽשׁ׃with <the> fire
baeshH784 →378 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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 18:8Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”
it leads to
- Revelation 17:16
And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 50:34
Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of Hosts is His name. He will fervently plead their case so that He may bring rest to the earth, but turmoil to those who live in Babylon.
- Jeremiah 50:31
“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.
- Revelation 18:9–10
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Revelation 17:16
Through
Genesis 25:16These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes.
it leads to
- Genesis 17:20
As for Ishmael, I have heard you, and I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He will become the father of twelve rulers, and I will make…
- Genesis 17:20
Through
Isaiah 1:7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
it leads to
- Lamentations 5:2
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
- Deuteronomy 28:33
A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Deuteronomy 28:43
The foreigner living among you will rise higher and higher above you, while you sink down lower and lower.
- Lamentations 5:2
About Numbers
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.