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Numbers 31:38

in Numbers 31

36,000 cattle, including a tribute to the LORD of 72,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the oxen were thirty and six thousand; of which Jehovah’s tribute was threescore and twelve.

KJV

And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the Lord’s tribute was threescore and twelve.

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This verse in Numbers 31

Commentary

4 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

this plunder remained from the spoils

on Numbers 31:32-40

The plunder comes to 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys and 32,000 women. The soldiers’ half pays one in five hundred exactly: 675 sheep from 337,500.

This site's exposition

36,000 cattle, including a tribute to the LORD of 72

The cattle follow the rule of verse 28 exactly. Half of 72,000 is 36,000, and one in five hundred of 36,000 is 72. Adam Clarke thinks such tribute cattle went for sacrifice or for the use of the Levites.

The record, by era

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

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 & Brown

1802–1910

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

8 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.

  • וְהַ֨בָּקָ֔רand the cattle

    vehabakarH1241 →183 times

  • שִׁשָּׁ֥ה[were] six

    shishahH8337 →216 times

  • וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖יםand thirty

    usheloshimH7970 →172 times

  • אָ֑לֶףthousand

    ʾalefH505 →505 times

  • וּמִכְסָ֥םand tax their

    umikhsamH4371 →6 times

  • לַיהוָ֖הfor Yahweh

    layahwehH3068 →6520 times

  • שְׁנַ֥יִם[was] two

    shenayimH8147 →768 times

  • וְשִׁבְעִֽים׃and seventy

    veshivimH7657 →91 times

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

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 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.

Read on in Numbers 31 →