Numbers 31:33
in Numbers 3172,000 cattle,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and threescore and twelve thousand oxen,
KJV
And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,
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This verse in Numbers 31
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught
on Numbers 31:32-40
The totals come to six hundred and seventy five thousand sheep, seventy two thousand beeves, sixty one thousand asses and thirty two thousand women, and the chapter halves each figure and works the tribute at one in five hundred. The sums balance to the last head, six hundred and seventy five sheep out of three hundred and thirty seven thousand five hundred, and seventy two beeves out of thirty six thousand. Clarke stops at the tribute of persons to reject an old reading that the thirty two women were offered in sacrifice, and takes them as given to service at the sanctuary. Verse 32 calls the booty the rest of the prey, which leaves room for what verse 53 says the men kept.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Take the sum of the prey that was taken--that is, of the captives and cattle, which, having been first lumped together according to ancient usage (Ex 15:9;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught--Some of the captives having been killed (Nu 31:17) and part of the cattle taken for the support of the army, the total amount of the booty remaining was in the following proportions:
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּבָקָ֕ר | uvakar | and cattle | H1241 → | 183 times |
| שְׁנַ֥יִם | shenayim | two | H8147 → | 768 times |
| וְשִׁבְעִ֖ים | veshivim | and seventy | H7657 → | 91 times |
| אָֽלֶף׃ | ʾalef | thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
וּבָקָ֕רand cattle
uvakarH1241 →183 times
שְׁנַ֥יִםtwo
shenayimH8147 →768 times
וְשִׁבְעִ֖יםand seventy
veshivimH7657 →91 times
אָֽלֶף׃thousand
ʾalefH505 →505 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Numbers

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible.
