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Numbers 31:11

in Numbers 31

and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast.

KJV

And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

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This verse in Numbers 31

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

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

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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;

quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:96%@v20-21

And they took all the spoil,.... In their cities and castles; and all the prey, both of men and of beasts; all sorts of cattle, oxen, sheep, and asses.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

The “prey” refers to the captives and live-stock: the “spoil” to the ornaments and other effects.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

All their residential cities and palaces [ houses of worship ] they set on fire.
Targum · Onkelos Numbers 31:10, via Sefaria, Metsudah Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009 [with Onkelos translation]

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 words

Every 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.

  • וַיִּקְחוּ֙and they took

    vaiyikchuH3947 →966 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַשָּׁלָ֔לthe plunder

    hashalalH7998 →

  • וְאֵ֖תand <obj.>

    veetH853 →10935 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַמַּלְק֑וֹחַthe booty

    hamalkoachH4455 →8 times

  • בָּאָדָ֖םamong <the> humankind

    baadamH120 →551 times

  • וּבַבְּהֵמָֽה׃and among the livestock

    uvabehemahH929 →190 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

2 in all, six open

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Joshua 8:2

    And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind…

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 20:14

      But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.

    • 2 Chronicles 20:22

      The moment they began their shouts and praises, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah, and they were defeated.

    • Proverbs 13:22

      A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

    • Joshua 6:21

      At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 20:14

    But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.

    it leads to

    • Joshua 8:2

      And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind…

    • Joshua 22:8

      saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”

    • Numbers 31:9

      The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.

    • Psalms 68:12

      “Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 31 →

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.

Read on in Numbers 31 →