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Numbers 31:52

in Numbers 31

All the gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds presented as an offering to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered up to Jehovah, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

KJV

And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

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This verse in Numbers 31

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord,.... The whole amount, weight, and value of it put together: even of the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, and perhaps of every common soldier, who might contribute his part, though it is not mentioned, but included in the oblation of the officers: was 16,750 shekels; which, according to the calculation of a very learned man (i), were 7,780 ounces, four drachms, two scruples, and thirty five grains. (i) Scheuchzer. Physica Sacr. vol. 2. p. 399.

This site's exposition

took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels

on Numbers 31:51-54

The gold weighs sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, brought by the captains of thousands and of hundreds. Verse 53 adds in a parenthesis that the men of war had taken spoil every man for himself, and readers divide over it, with Barnes taking it that the common soldiers made no offering and Gill taking it that every man contributed out of what he had kept. The gold is carried into the tabernacle for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord, which is the use Exodus 30:16 gave for the atonement money of a people numbered.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

proposed

The holy instruments - The holy breast-plate, wherein was the Urim and Thummim, which was easily carried, and very useful in war upon many emergent occasions. All the males - Namely all who lived in those parts, for colonies of them, were sent forth to remoter places, which therefore had no hand either in their former sin, or in this present ruling.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

The war was undertaken on the behalf of the whole congregation; they would all have been ready to go to the help of the Lord against the mighty, if they had been so ordered, and they did help, it is likely, by their prayers; and therefore God appoints that those that tarried at home should divide the spoil, Ps. lxviii.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

officers . . . said . . . there lacketh not one man of us--A victory so signal, and the glory of which was untarnished by the loss of a single Israelitish soldier, was an astonishing miracle.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

The value of the offering was about 20,000 British pounds.

The words behind it

20 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.

  • וַיְהִ֣י׀and it was

    vayhiH1961 →3559 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • זְהַ֣ב[the] gold of

    zehavH2091 →389 times

  • הַתְּרוּמָ֗הthe contribution

    haterumahH8641 →76 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֤רwhich

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • הֵרִ֙ימוּ֙they raised

    herimuH7311 →190 times

  • לַֽיהוָ֔הfor Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • שִׁשָּׁ֨הsix-

    shishahH8337 →216 times

  • עָשָׂ֥רteen

    ʾasarH6240 →338 times

  • אֶ֛לֶףthousand

    ʾelefH505 →505 times

  • שְׁבַע־seven

    sheva'-H7651 →394 times

  • מֵא֥וֹתhundred<s>

    meotH3967 →581 times

  • וַחֲמִשִּׁ֖יםand fifty

    vachamishimH2572 →163 times

  • שָׁ֑קֶלshekel[s]

    shakelH8255 →88 times

  • מֵאֵת֙from with

    meetH854 →929 times

  • שָׂרֵ֣י[the] commanders of

    sareiH8269 →421 times

  • הָֽאֲלָפִ֔יםthe thousands

    haalafimH505 →505 times

  • וּמֵאֵ֖תand from with

    umeetH854 →929 times

  • שָׂרֵ֥י[the] commanders of

    sareiH8269 →421 times

  • הַמֵּאֽוֹת׃the hundreds

    hameotH3967 →581 times

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

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 Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; 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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 31 →