Bible Strands
Numbers 31:53
Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records the soldiers' individual actions immediately after the commanders present their gold offerings to the LORD.
The words — The phrase אַנְשֵׁי הַצָּבָא ('an shei ha-tzva') means "the men of the army," while בָּזְזוּ אִישׁ (ba'zezu ish) literally renders "each man plundered."
The thread — This individual appropriation of spoils appears in the campaign accounting of Numbers 31:32 and aligns with the plunder regulations outlined in Deuteronomy 20:14.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to observe how personal seizure of goods is documented before communal accounting and sacred offering are finalized.
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
(For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 20:14 But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God gives you.
- Numbers 31:32 and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,