◄ Numbers 31:18 ►
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Treasury of Scripture

keep alive for yourselves. It has been groundlessly asserted, that Moses here authorised the Israelites to make concubines of the whole number of female children; and an insidious objection against his writings has been grounded upon this monstrous supposition. But the whole tenor of the law, and especially a stature recorded in De.

Numbers 21:10-14 And the children of Israel set forward, and pitched in Oboth...

, proves most decisively to the contrary. They were merely permitted to possess them as female slaves, educating them in their families, and employing them as domestics; for the laws concerning fornication, concubinage, and marriage, were in full force, and prohibited an Israelite even from marrying a captive, without delays and previous formalities; and if he afterwards divorced her, he was to set here at liberty, 'because he had humbled her.'

Leviticus 25:44 Both your slaves, and your bondmaids, which you shall have, shall be of the heathen that are round about you...

Deuteronomy 20:14 But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take to yourself...

Deuteronomy 21:10-14 When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the LORD your God has delivered them into your hands...

2 Chronicles 28:8-10 And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters...

Isaiah 14:2 And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place...



Context
Vengeance on Midian

1And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shall you be gathered to your people. 3And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves to the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian. 4Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall you send to the war. 5So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand. 7And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males. 8And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. 9And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods. 10And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelled, and all their goodly castles, with fire. 11And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. 12And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho. 13And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. 14And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. 15And Moses said to them, Have you saved all the women alive? 16Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. 17Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him. 18But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19And do you abide without the camp seven days: whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood. 21And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses; 22Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23Every thing that may abide the fire, you 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 stays not the fire you shall make go through the water. 24And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you shall come into the camp.
Parallel Verses
American Standard Version
But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Douay-Rheims Bible
But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

Darby Bible Translation
but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

King James Bible
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Young's Literal Translation
and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves.

Numbers 31:17
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