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Numbers 31:21

in Numbers 31

Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war that went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses:

KJV

And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses;

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This verse in Numbers 31

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

A process of purification was to be undergone, as the law required (Le 15:13; Nu 19:9-12), and this purifying ceremony was extended to dress, houses, tents, to everything on which a dead body had lain, which had been touched by the blood-stained hands of the Israelitish warriors, or which had been the property of idolaters.

This site's exposition

remain outside the camp for seven days

on Numbers 31:19-25

Victory exempts no one from the law of the dead. Whoever killed or touched a body waits outside seven days and is purified with "the water of purification", the red heifer rite of chapter 19.

This site's exposition

This is the statute of the law

Eleazar speaks here, though Moses gave the order at verse 19. John Gill takes the priest's words to confirm what Moses had already said about purification. Matthew Henry adds that goods once used by Midianites had to be set apart for a holy people before Israel could use them.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war, which went to the battle,.... To all the soldiers, officers, and common men: this is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord commanded Moses; concerning the purification of unclean persons and things, hereby confirming what Moses had said.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

These things had been use by Midianites, and, having now come into the possession of Israelites, it was fit that they should be sanctified to the service of that holy nation and the honour of their holy God. To us now every thing is sanctified by the word and prayer, if we are sanctified by the Spirit, who is compared both to fire and water.

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said

    vaiyomerH559 →5305 times

  • אֶלְעָזָ֤רEleazar

    ʾelazarH499 →72 times

  • הַכֹּהֵן֙the priest

    hakohenH3548 →750 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • אַנְשֵׁ֣י[the] men of

    ʾansheiH582 →566 times

  • הַצָּבָ֔אthe army

    hatzava'H6635 →485 times

  • הַבָּאִ֖יםwho had gone

    habaimH935 →2568 times

  • לַמִּלְחָמָ֑הto the battle

    lamilchamahH4421 →320 times

  • זֹ֚אתthis

    zotH2063 →603 times

  • חֻקַּ֣ת[is] [the] statute of

    chukatH2708 →104 times

  • הַתּוֹרָ֔הthe law

    hatorahH8451 →219 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־which

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • צִוָּ֥הhe commanded

    tzivahH6680 →494 times

  • יְהוָ֖הYahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מֹשֶֽׁה׃Moses

    moshehH4872 →765 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

5 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

    Numbers 30:16

    These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 13:59

      This is the law concerning a mildew contamination in wool or linen fabric, weave, or knit, or any leather article, for pronouncing it clean or unclean.”

    • Leviticus 14:54–57

      This is the law for any infectious skin disease, for a scaly outbreak,

    • Numbers 5:29–30

      This is the law of jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,

    • Leviticus 15:32–33

      This is the law of him who has a discharge, of the man who has an emission of semen whereby he is unclean,

    • Leviticus 11:46–47

      This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground.

Where this verse is studied

About Numbers

The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
The Brazen Serpent, Anthony van Dyck, 1618 to 1620. Public domain.
Numbers: the study guide →Read Numbers 31 →

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Numbers 31 →