Passage

Numbers 31.19-24

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"17. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18. But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

"19. And encamp ye without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, ye and your captives. 20. And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves. 21. 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: 22. howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23. everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water. 24. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterward ye shall come into the camp."

"25. And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 26. Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation;" (Numbers 31:17-26, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"17. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18. But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

"19. “Encamp outside of the camp seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. 20. As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify yourselves.” 21. Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: 22. however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23. everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity. All that doesn’t withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water. 24. You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. Afterward you shall come into the camp.”"

"25. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26. “Count the plunder that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation;" (Numbers 31:17-26, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"17. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. ^{him: Heb. a male} 18. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

"19. And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20. And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood. ^{that: Heb. instrument, or, vessel of skins} 21. 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; 22. Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23. Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. 24. And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp."

"25. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 26. Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: ^{that: Heb. of the captivity}" (Numbers 31:17-26, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"17. 'And now, slay ye every male among the infants, yea, every woman known of man by the lying of a male ye have slain; 18. and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves."

"19. 'And ye, encamp ye at the outside of the camp seven days, any who hath slain a person, and any who hath come against a pierced one, ye cleanse yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day, ye and your captives; 20. and every garment, and every skin vessel, and every work of goats' [hair], and every wooden vessel, ye yourselves cleanse.' 21. And Eleazar the priest saith unto the men of the host who go in to battle, 'This [is] the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses: 22. only, the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23. every thing which may go into fire, ye cause to pass over through fire, and it hath been clean; only, with the water of separation it is cleansed, and all that may not go into fire, ye cause to pass over through water; 24. and ye have washed your garments on the seventh day, and have been clean, and afterwards ye come in unto the camp.'"

"25. And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, 26. 'Take up the sum of the prey of the captives, among man and among beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the company;" (Numbers 31:17-26, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
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Quoted in

OT Sexual-Violence Laws

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.