Passage

Numbers 31.50

Book: Numbers · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

48. And the officers that were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses; 49. and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war that are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.

50. And we have brought Jehovah's oblation, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle-chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, ear-rings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 52. 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. (Numbers 31:48-52, ASV)

WEB

48. The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses. 49. They said to Moses, “Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us.

50. We have brought Yahweh’s offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Yahweh.”

Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels. 52. All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to Yahweh, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. (Numbers 31:48-52, WEB)

KJV

48. And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: 49. And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. ^{charge: Heb. hand}

50. We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD. ^{gotten: Heb. found}

And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 52. 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. ^{offering: Heb. heave offering} (Numbers 31:48-52, KJV)

YLT

48. And the inspectors whom the thousands of the host hath, (heads of the thousands and heads of the hundreds), draw near unto Moses, 49. and they say unto Moses, 'Thy servants have taken up the sum of the men of war who [are] with us, and not a man of us hath been missed;

50. and we bring near Jehovah's offering, each that which he hath found, vessels of gold, chain, and bracelet, seal-ring, [ear] -ring, and bead, to make atonement for ourselves before Jehovah.'

And Moses receiveth, Eleazar the priest also, the gold from them, every made vessel, 52. and all the gold of the heave-offering which they have lifted up to Jehovah is sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from heads of the thousands, and from heads of the hundreds; (Numbers 31:48-52, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The officers of the army, the captains of thousands and of hundreds (Numbers 31:48-49).
Audience: Moses and Eleazar the priest (Numbers 31:51).
Location: The camp in the plains of Moab, after the war against Midian.
Time period: Late in the fortieth year after the Exodus, on the sequence of Numbers 33:38 and Deuteronomy 1:3; traditionally dated to the 15th or 13th century BC, depending on the Exodus chronology.

Theological reading

The offering follows a count with no loss. The officers report, "there lacketh not one man of us" (Numbers 31:49, ASV), and bring their gold "to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah" (Numbers 31:50, ASV). Moses and Eleazar carry it into the tent of meeting "for a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah" (Numbers 31:54, ASV).

The language matches the census ransom. Exodus 30:12 requires a ransom when Israel is numbered, "that there be no plague among them" (Exodus 30:12, ASV), and Exodus 30:16 calls that payment "atonement money", set apart "that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls" (Exodus 30:16, ASV). The officers have just numbered their men, and many readers take their gift in the light of that law.

Atonement language without blood. Here atonement takes the sense of a ransom or covering paid in gold. The verse does not show that blood was unnecessary in Israel's worship generally, since the sin-offerings remain in force; it shows that the same word covers a ransom payment as well as sacrifice.

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.

H3722 - kaphar, kaphar, Strong's H3722
H5315 - nephesh, nephesh, Strong's H5315
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Blood Atonement Not Required Objection Defeater

Notes

Your annotations.

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.