but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.
Parallel translations
- WEB But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
- KJV But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
- NKJV But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.
- NASB However, all the girls who have not known a man intimately, keep alive for yourselves.
- NLT Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The young girls who had not known a man were to be kept alive and spared.
Overview
Those who had no part in the seduction at Peor were preserved, showing the judgment was targeted rather than indiscriminate. Within ancient society they would be incorporated into Israel, subject to its laws protecting captives. Even in severe judgment, distinctions of guilt and innocence were observed, reflecting God's justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Deut 21:10–14When you go to war against your enemies and the LORD your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,
- Lev 25:44Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.
- Deut 20:14But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
- 2 Chr 28:8–10Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their kinsmen—women, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a great deal of plunder and brought it to Samaria.
- Isa 14:2The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 31:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.