Bible Strands
Numbers 31:17
So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelite military commanders following the campaign against Midian, issuing a direct order to execute captured children and women after the plague at Peor.
The words — The command centers on הִרְג֥וּ (hir.Gu), "kill," applied to every זָכָ֖ר (za.Khar), "male," and every אִשָּׁ֗ה (’iššâ), "woman," who is יֹדַ֥עַת (yo.Da.'at), "having known," a man.
The thread — This execution order mirrors the conquest mandate in Deuteronomy 7:2 and Deuteronomy 20:16, and is explicitly repeated in Judges 21:11 as a template for total devotion of enemy populations.
Why it lands — The text commands the immediate slaughter of male children and sexually experienced women to eliminate the source of the idolatrous corruption that brought plague upon the congregation.
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
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 7:2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.
- Deuteronomy 20:16 However, in the cities of the nations that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.
- Judges 21:11 This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”