30,500 donkeys, of which 61 were the Lord’s share;
Parallel translations
- WEB The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred; of which Yahweh’s tribute was sixty-one.
- KJV And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and one.
- BSB 30,500 donkeys, including a tribute to the LORD of 61,
- NKJV The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one.
- NASB the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s tribute tax was sixty-one;
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 soldiers' donkeys numbered thirty thousand five hundred, with sixty-one given as the Lord's tribute.
Overview
The donkeys, too, were tithed according to the one-in-five-hundred rule. The repeated faithfulness in giving God His portion marks the people's obedience. It models the principle that all our increase belongs first to the Lord.
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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 31:39 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
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