Numbers 30-31
New English Translation
Vows Made by Men
30 [a] Moses told the leaders[b] of the tribes concerning the Israelites, “This is what[c] the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man[d] makes a vow[e] to the Lord or takes an oath[f] of binding obligation on himself,[g] he must not break his word, but must do whatever he has promised.[h]
Vows Made by Single Women
3 “If a young[i] woman who is still living[j] in her father’s house makes a vow to the Lord or places herself under an obligation, 4 and her father hears of her vow or the obligation to which she has pledged herself, and her father remains silent about her,[k] then all her vows will stand,[l] and every obligation to which she has pledged herself will stand. 5 But if her father overrules her when he hears[m] about it, then none[n] of her vows or her obligations that she has pledged for herself will stand. And the Lord will release[o] her from it, because her father overruled her.
Vows Made by Married Women
6 “And if she marries a husband while under a vow,[p] or she uttered anything impulsively[q] by which she has pledged herself, 7 and her husband hears about it but remains silent about her when he hears about it, then her vows will stand and her obligations that she has pledged for herself will stand. 8 But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify[r] the vow she has taken,[s] and whatever she uttered impulsively that she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.
Vows Made by Widows
9 “But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman which she has pledged for herself will remain intact.[t] 10 If she made the vow in her husband’s house or put herself under obligation with an oath, 11 and her husband heard about it, but remained silent about her, and did not overrule her, then all her vows will stand, and every obligation which she pledged for herself will stand. 12 But if her husband clearly nullifies[u] them when he hears them, then whatever she says[v] by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.
13 “Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her,[w] her husband can confirm or nullify.[x] 14 But if her husband remains completely silent[y] about her from day to day, he thus confirms all her vows or all her obligations which she is under; he confirms them because he remained silent about her when he heard them. 15 But if he should nullify them after he has heard them, then he will bear her iniquity.”[z]
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses, relating to[aa] a man and his wife, and a father and his young daughter who is still living in her father’s house.
The Midianite War
31 [ab] The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Exact vengeance[ac] for the Israelites from the Midianites[ad]—after that you will be gathered to your people.”[ae]
3 So Moses spoke to the people: “Arm[af] men from among you for the war, to attack the Midianites and to execute[ag] the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 4 You must send to the battle 1,000 men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.”[ah] 5 So 1,000 from every tribe, 12,000 armed for battle in all, were provided out of the thousands of Israel.
Campaign Against the Midianites
6 So Moses sent them to the war, 1,000 from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge[ai] of the holy articles[aj] and the signal trumpets. 7 They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.[ak] 8 They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—five Midianite kings.[al] They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.[am]
9 The Israelites took the women of Midian captive along with their little ones, and took all their herds, all their flocks, and all their goods as plunder. 10 They burned[an] all their towns[ao] where they lived and all their encampments. 11 They took all the plunder and all the spoils, both people and animals. 12 They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the Israelite community, to the camp on the rift valley plains[ap] of Moab, along the Jordan River[aq] across from Jericho.[ar] 13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.
The Death of the Midianite Women
14 But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live?[as] 16 Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor—which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord! 17 Now therefore kill every boy,[at] and kill every woman who has been intimate with a man in bed.[au] 18 But all the young women[av] who have not experienced a man’s bed[aw] will be yours.[ax]
Purification After Battle
19 “Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. 20 You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”[ay]
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses: 22 ‘Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that may stand the fire, you are to pass through the fire,[az] and it will be ceremonially clean, but it must still be purified with the water of purification. Anything that cannot withstand the fire you must pass through the water. 24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be ceremonially clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.’”
The Distribution of Spoils
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 26 “You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum[ba] of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals. 27 Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war—who went out to battle—and the other for all the community.
28 “You must exact[bb] a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of 500, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep. 29 You are to take it from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord. 30 From the Israelites’ half share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep—from every kind of animal—and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.”
31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. 32 The spoil that remained of the plunder that the fighting men[bc] had gathered[bd] was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000[be] young women who had not experienced a man’s bed.[bf]
36 The half portion of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep; 37 the Lord’s tribute from the sheep was 675. 38 The cattle numbered[bg] 36,000; the Lord’s tribute was 72. 39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord’s tribute was 61. 40 The people were 16,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 people.[bh]
41 So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 From the Israelites’ half share that Moses had separated from the fighting men,[bi] 43 there were 337,500 sheep from the portion belonging to the community, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 people.
47 From the Israelites’ share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders over thousands and the commanders over hundreds, approached Moses 49 and said to him,[bj] “Your servants have taken a count[bk] of the men who were in the battle, who were under our authority,[bl] and not one is missing. 50 So we have brought as an offering for the Lord what each man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves[bm] before the Lord.”[bn] 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all of it in the form of ornaments. 52 All the gold of the offering they offered up to the Lord from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds weighed 16,750 shekels.[bo] 53 Each soldier had taken plunder for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders[bp] of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial[bq] for the Israelites before the Lord.
Footnotes
- Numbers 30:1 sn Num 30 deals with vows that are different than the vows discussed in Lev 27 and Num 6. The material is placed here after all the rulings of the offerings, but it could have been revealed to Moses at any time, such as the Nazirite vows, or the question of the daughters’ inheritance. The logic of placing it here may be that a festival was the ideal place for discharging a vow. For additional material on vows, see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 465-66.
- Numbers 30:1 tn Heb “heads.”
- Numbers 30:1 tn Heb “This is the word which.”
- Numbers 30:2 tn The legal construction states the class to which the law applies, and then lays down the condition: “men [man]—if….”
- Numbers 30:2 tn The Hebrew text uses a cognate accusative construction to express this: “a man if he vows a vow.”
- Numbers 30:2 tn The expression is “swear an oath” (הִשָּׁבַע שְׁבֻעָה, hishavaʿ shevuʿah). The vow (נֵדֶר, neder) was a promise to donate something of oneself or one’s substance to the Lord. The solemn oath seals the vow before the Lord, perhaps with sacrifice. The vocabulary recalls Abraham’s treaty with Abimelech and the naming of Beer Sheba with the word (see Gen 21).
- Numbers 30:2 tn The Hebrew text hasלֶאְסֹר אִסָּר (leʾsor ʾissar), meaning “to take a binding obligation.” This is usually interpreted to mean a negative vow, i.e., the person attempts to abstain from something that is otherwise permissible. It might involve fasting, or abstaining from marital sex, but it might also involve some goal to be achieved, and the abstaining from distractions until the vow is fulfilled (see Ps 132). The נֶדֶר (neder) may have been more for religious matters, and the אִסָּר more for social concerns, but this cannot be documented with certainty.
- Numbers 30:2 tn Heb “according to all that goes out of his mouth.”
- Numbers 30:3 tn The qualification comes at the end of the verse, and simply says “in her youth.”
- Numbers 30:3 tn The Hebrew text just has “in her father’s house” and not “who is still living,” but that is the meaning of the line.
- Numbers 30:4 tn The intent of this expression is that he does not object to the vow.
- Numbers 30:4 tn The verb קוּם (qum) is best translated “stand” here, but the idea with it is that what she vows is established as a genuine oath with the father’s approval (or acquiescence).
- Numbers 30:5 tn The idiom is “in the day of,” but it is used in place of a preposition before the infinitive construct with its suffixed subjective genitive. The clause is temporal.
- Numbers 30:5 tn The Hebrew “all will not stand” is best rendered “none will stand.”
- Numbers 30:5 tn The verb has often been translated “forgive” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but that would suggest a sin that needed forgiving. The idea of “release from obligation” is better; the idea is like that of having a debt “forgiven” or “retired.” In other words, she is free from the vow she had made. The Lord will not hold the woman responsible to do what she vowed.
- Numbers 30:6 tn Heb “and her vows are upon her.” It may be that the woman gets married while her vows are still unfulfilled.
- Numbers 30:6 tn The Hebrew text indicates that this would be some impetuous vow that she uttered with her lips, a vow that her husband, whether new or existing, would not approve of. Several translate it “a binding obligation rashly uttered.”
- Numbers 30:8 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb פָּרַר (parar, “to annul”). The verb functions here as the equivalent of an imperfect tense; here it is the apodosis following the conditional clause—if this is the case, then this is what will happen.
- Numbers 30:8 tn Heb “which [she is] under it.”
- Numbers 30:9 tn The Hebrew text says her vow “shall stand against her.” In other words, she must fulfill, or bear the consequences of, whatever she vowed.
- Numbers 30:12 tn The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.
- Numbers 30:12 tn Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”
- Numbers 30:13 tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת (leʿannot, “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.
- Numbers 30:13 tn Heb “or her husband can nullify.”
- Numbers 30:14 tn The sentence uses the infinitive absolute to strengthen the idea.
- Numbers 30:15 sn In other words, he will pay the penalty for making her break her vows if he makes her stop what she vowed. It will not be her responsibility.
- Numbers 30:16 tn Heb “between.”
- Numbers 31:1 sn This lengthy chapter records the mobilization of the troops (vv. 1-5), the war itself (vv. 6-13), the death of the captive women (vv. 14-18), the purification of the nations (vv. 19-24), and the distribution of the spoils (vv. 25-54). For more detail, see G. W. Coats, “Moses in Midian,” JBL 92 (1973): 3-10; and W. J. Dumbrell, “Midian—a Land or a League?” VT 25 (1975): 323-37.
- Numbers 31:2 tn The imperative is followed by its cognate accusative to stress this vengeance. The Midianites had attempted to destroy Israel with their corrupt pagan practices, and now will be judged. The accounts indicate that the effort by Midian was calculated and evil.
- Numbers 31:2 sn The war was commanded by the Lord and was to be divine vengeance on the Midianites. So it was holy war. No Israelites then could take spoils in this—it was not a time for plunder and aggrandizement. It was part of the judgment of God upon those who would destroy or pervert his plan and his people.
- Numbers 31:2 sn This would be the last major enterprise that Moses would have to undertake. He would soon die and “be gathered to his people” as Aaron was.
- Numbers 31:3 tn The Niphal imperative, literally “arm yourselves,” is the call to mobilize the nation for war. It is followed by the jussive, “and they will be,” which would then be subordinated to say “that they may be.” The versions changed the verb to a Hiphil, but that is unnecessary: “arm some of yourselves.”
- Numbers 31:3 tn Heb “give.”
- Numbers 31:4 sn Some commentators argue that given the size of the nation (which they reject) the small number for the army is a sign of the unrealistic character of the story. The number is a round number, but it is also a holy war, and God would give them the victory. They are beginning to learn here, and at Jericho, and later against these Midianites under Gideon, that God does not want or need a large army in order to obtain victory.
- Numbers 31:6 tn The Hebrew text uses the idiom that these “were in his hand,” meaning that he had the responsibility over them.
- Numbers 31:6 sn It is not clear what articles from the sanctuary were included. Tg. Ps.-J. adds (interpretively) “the Urim and Thummim.”
- Numbers 31:7 sn Many modern biblical scholars assume that this passage is fictitious. The text says that they killed every male, but Judges accounts for the Midianites. The texts can be harmonized rather simply—they killed every Midianite who was in the battle. Midianite tribes and cities dotted the whole region, but that does not mean Israel went and killed every single one of them. There apparently was a core of Midianites whom Balaam had influenced to pervert Israel.
- Numbers 31:8 sn Here again we see that there was no unified empire, but Midianite tribal groups.
- Numbers 31:8 sn And what was Balaam doing among the Midianites? The implication is strong. This pagan diviner had to submit to the revealed will of God in the oracles, but he nonetheless could be hired. He had been a part of the attempt to destroy Israel that failed; he then apparently became part of the plan, if not the adviser, to destroy them with sexual immorality and pagan ritual.
- Numbers 31:10 tn Heb “burned with fire.”
- Numbers 31:10 tn The ban applied to the encampments and forts of this group of Midianite tribes living in the region of Moab.
- Numbers 31:12 sn This is the area of the rift valley basin to the north of the Dead Sea and east of the Jordan. See the note at Num 21:1.
- Numbers 31:12 tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 31:12 tn Again this expression, “the Jordan of Jericho,” is used. It describes the intended location along the Jordan River, the Jordan next to or across from Jericho.
- Numbers 31:15 tn The verb is the Piel perfect of the word חָיָה (khayah, “to live”). In the Piel stem it must here mean “preserve alive,” or “allow to live,” rather than make alive.
- Numbers 31:17 tn Heb “every male among the little ones.”sn The command in holy war to kill women and children seems in modern times a terrible thing to do (and it was), and something they ought not to have done. But this criticism fails to understand the situation in the ancient world. The entire life of the ancient world was tribal warfare. God’s judgment is poured out on whole groups of people who act with moral abandonment and in sinful pursuits. See E. J. Young, My Servants, the Prophets, 24; and J. W. Wenham, The Enigma of Evil.
- Numbers 31:17 tn Heb “every woman, who is a knower of a man by the bed of a male.”
- Numbers 31:18 tn Or “girls.” The Hebrew indicates they would be female children, making the selection easy.
- Numbers 31:18 tn Heb “who have not known a man’s bed.” The verb יָדָע (yadaʿ) “to know,” “be intimate with,” is used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Numbers 31:18 sn Many contemporary scholars see this story as fictitious, composed by the Jews during the captivity. According to this interpretation, the spoils of war here indicate the wealth of the Jews in captivity, which was to be given to the Levites and priests for the restoration of the sanctuary in Jerusalem. The conclusion drawn from this interpretation is that returning Jews had the same problem as the earlier ones: to gain a foothold in the land. Against this interpretation of the account is a lack of hard evidence, a lack which makes this interpretation appear contrived and subjective. If this was the intent of a later writer, he surely could have stated this more clearly than by making up such a story.
- Numbers 31:20 sn These verses are a reminder that taking a life, even if justified through holy war, still separates one from the holiness of God. It is part of the violation of the fallen world, and only through the ritual of purification can one be once again made fit for the presence of the Lord.
- Numbers 31:23 sn Purification by fire is unique to this event. Making these metallic objects “pass through the fire” was not only a way of purifying (burning off impurities), but it seems to be a dedicatory rite as well to the Lord and his people. The aspect of passing through the fire is one used by these pagans for child sacrifice.
- Numbers 31:26 tn The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.
- Numbers 31:28 tn The verb is the Hiphil, “you shall cause to be taken up.” The perfect with vav (ו) continues the sequence of the instructions. This raised offering was to be a tax of one-fifth of one percent for the Lord.
- Numbers 31:32 tn Heb “people.”
- Numbers 31:32 tn Heb “had plundered.”
- Numbers 31:35 sn Here again we encounter one of the difficulties of the book, the use of the large numbers. Only 12,000 soldiers fought the Midianites, but they brought back this amount of plunder, including 32,000 girls. Until a solution for numbers in the book can be found, or the current translation confirmed, one must remain cautious in interpretation.
- Numbers 31:35 tn Heb “who have not known a man’s bed.” The verb יָדָע (yadaʿ) “to know,” “be intimate with,” is used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Numbers 31:38 tn The word “numbered” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 31:40 tn Heb “soul.”
- Numbers 31:42 tn Heb “the men who were fighting.”
- Numbers 31:49 tn Heb “to Moses”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
- Numbers 31:49 tn Heb “lifted up the head.”
- Numbers 31:49 tn Heb “in our hand.”
- Numbers 31:50 tn Heb “our souls.”
- Numbers 31:50 sn The expression here may include the idea of finding protection from divine wrath, which is so common to Leviticus, but it may also be a thank offering for the fact that their lives had been spared.
- Numbers 31:52 sn Or about 420 imperial pounds.
- Numbers 31:54 tn The Hebrew text does not repeat the word “commanders” here, but it is implied.
- Numbers 31:54 tn The purpose of the offering was to remind the Lord to remember Israel. But it would also be an encouragement for Israel as they remembered the great victory.
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