Bible Strands
Numbers 31:10
Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites had lived, as well as all their encampments,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator describes the Israelite army’s actions immediately after capturing Midianite women, children, and livestock. This occurs during the execution of judgment following the campaign against Midian.
The words — The Hebrew verb שָׂרְפ֖וּ (sa.re.Fu) literally means "they burned," paired with the noun טִֽירֹתָ֑ם (ti.ro.Ta/m), meaning "their encampments."
The thread — This pattern of total destruction appears in Joshua 6:24, where Jericho is consumed by fire, and echoes in 1 Samuel 30:1, where Amalekites burn Ziklag. The concept of dwelling places is also noted in Genesis 25:16.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition of complete eradication as the stated outcome of the campaign, leaving no infrastructure for the defeated to reclaim.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
Cross-references
- Genesis 25:16 These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes.
- Joshua 6:24 Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD’s house.
- 1 Samuel 30:1 On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.
- 1 Kings 9:16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
- Isaiah 1:7 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.
- Revelation 18:8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”