But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Parallel translations
- WEB But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
- BSB but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.
- 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 thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,
- Lev 25:44Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids.
- Deut 20:14But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
- 2 Chr 28:8–10And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
- Isa 14:2And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of the LORD for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.