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Numbers 31:7

in Numbers 31

Then they waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah commanded Moses; and they slew every male.

KJV

And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.

This verse in Numbers 31

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But the destruction appears to have been only partial--limited to those who were in the neighborhood of the Hebrew camp and who had been accomplices in the villainous plot of Baal-peor (Nu 25:1-3), while a large portion of the Midianites were absent on their pastoral wanderings or had saved themselves by flight.

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

), that is, all they met with as far as they went; they put them all to the sword, and gave no quarter. But that they did not slay all the males of the nation is certain, for we find the Midianites a powerful and formidable enemy to Israel in the days of Gideon; and they were the Midianites of this country, for they are reckoned with the children of the east, Judg. vi.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses,....

The words behind it

11 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.

  • וַֽיִּצְבְּאוּ֙and they waged war

    vaiyitzbeuH663314 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • מִדְיָ֔ןMidian

    midyanH408059 times

  • כַּאֲשֶׁ֛רjust as

    kaasherH8345497 times

  • צִוָּ֥הhe had commanded

    tzivahH6680494 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH30686520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H85310935 times

  • מֹשֶׁ֑הMoses

    moshehH4872765 times

  • וַיַּֽהַרְג֖וּand they killed

    vaiyaharguH2026167 times

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H36055413 times

  • זָכָֽר׃male

    zakharH214582 times

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

The walk

7 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

    1 Samuel 27:9

    Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish,

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 15:3

      Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and…

    • Exodus 15:22

      Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.

    • Genesis 16:7

      Now the angel of the LORD found Hagar by a spring of water in the desert—the spring along the road to Shur.

    • 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.

    • 1 Samuel 15:7

      Then Saul struck down the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, which is east of Egypt.

  • Through

    Judges 21:11

    This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”

    it leads to

    • Numbers 31:17–18

      So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,

    • Deuteronomy 2:34

      At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.

About Numbers

The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Bronze Serpent, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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.