Numbers 31:40

and 16,000 people, including a tribute to the LORD of 32.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — The narrator records Moses’ accounting of the Midianite plunder, specifying the portion of human captives set apart for Yahweh.

The words — מִכְסָם (mikh.sa/m) translates literally as “tax” or “tribute,” and נֶפֶשׁ (ne.fesh) means “person,” anchoring the verse in concrete accounting.

The thread — This verse continues the Numbers 31:28–54 pattern of dividing war spoils and assigning a fixed tribute to Yahweh, directly linking to the donkey tribute in Numbers 31:39 and its delivery to Eleazar in Numbers 31:41.

Why it lands — It requires the reader to recognize that the text explicitly states a tribute of thirty-two persons owed to Yahweh, demanding precise accounting rather than proportional calculation.

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

וְנֶ֣פֶשׁve./Ne.feshand/ [the] person[s] of אָדָ֔ם'a.Damhumankind שִׁשָּׁ֥הshi.Shah[were] six-עָשָׂ֖ר'a.Sarteen אָ֑לֶף'A.lefthousand וּמִכְסָם֙u./mikh.Sa/mand/ tax/ their לַֽיהוָ֔הla./Yah.wehfor/ Yahweh שְׁנַ֥יִםshe.Na.yim[was] two וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֖יםu./she.lo.Shimand/ thirty נָֽפֶשׁ׃Na.feshperson[s]

King James Version

And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty and two persons.