Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian.
Parallel Translations
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Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian.
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And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.
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And Moses spoke unto the people, saying: 'Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD'S vengeance on Midian.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Numbers 31:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Leviticus 26:25 I will bring a sword upon you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant. You will be gathered together within your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you. You will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
- Exodus 17:9-13 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s rod in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; so they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. His hands were steady until sunset. Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
- Exodus 17:16 He said, “Yah has sworn: ‘Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.’ ”
- Numbers 25:11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy.
- Numbers 25:13 It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”
- Judges 5:2 “Because the leaders took the lead in Israel, because the people offered themselves willingly, be blessed, Yahweh!
- Judges 5:23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said Yahweh’s angel. ‘Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they didn’t come to help Yahweh, to help Yahweh against the mighty.’
- 2 Kings 9:7 You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of Yahweh, at the hand of Jezebel.
- 2 Kings 10:30 Yahweh said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in executing that which is right in my eyes, and have done to Ahab’s house according to all that was in my heart, your descendants shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
- Jeremiah 46:10 For that day is of the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge himself of his adversaries. The sword will devour and be satiated, and will drink its fill of their blood; for the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, has a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
- Jeremiah 50:28 Listen to those who flee and escape out of the land of Babylon, to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, the vengeance of his temple.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain As he had commanded, Num. 25:17, declaring also that…
As he had commanded, Num. 25:17, declaring also that the injury done against his people is done against him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Num 31:3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying,…
Num 31:3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.
Ver. 3. Arm some of yourselves unto the war.] Lactantius {a} being, according to his name, a mild and gentle man, abhorred bloodshed, thought it not lawful for a just man to be a warrior, whose justice was his warfare. But this was his error; Patres legendi sunt cum venia; God bids here, Arm yourselves, &c. Indeed it is utterly unlawful for men wilfully to thrust themselves into unnecessary wars: and it is reported in the life of Augustine, that he would never pray for such. But when God sounds the alarm, as here, "Cursed is he that doeth this work of the Lord negligently: Cursed is he that keepeth back his sword from blood." {Jer 48:10}
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{a} Instit., lib. vi. cap. 20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain For the affront and injury which they offered to…
For the affront and injury which they offered to God, partly by their own idolatry and lewdness, and partly by seducing God’s people into rebellion against him. God’s great care was to
avenge the Israelites, Num 31:2, and Moses’s chief desire was to avenge God rather than himself or the people. Withal he doth hereby insinuate, that God and his people have the same cause, the same friends and enemies.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Moses spake unto the people, saying,.... In obedience…
And Moses spake unto the people, saying,.... In obedience to the divine command; this must be supposed to be spoken to the heads or princes of the tribes:
arm some of yourselves unto the war: not the whole body of the militia, 600,000 men and upwards, only some of them, and these choice and select men; and, according to the Jewish writers, good men, who, detesting the sins of lewdness and idolatry, would more strictly and severely avenge themselves on the Midianites for drawing their brethren into those sins, whereby they fell; and so Jarchi calls them righteous men:
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and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian: what the Lord calls the vengeance of the Israelites, Moses calls the vengeance of the Lord, because they were the Lord's people, and his cause and theirs the same: and because the sins they were drawn into by the Midianites were not only against themselves, and to their prejudice, but against the Lord and to the dishonour of his name.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Avenge ye the Lord - For the affront which…
Avenge ye the Lord - For the affront which they offered to God, by their own idolatry and lewdness, and by seducing God's people into rebellion against him. God's great care was to avenge the Israelites, ver. 2, and Moses's chief desire was to avenge God rather than himself or the people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. Avenge the Lord of Midian.] It was…
Verse 3. Avenge the Lord of Midian.] It was God's quarrel, not their own, that they were now to take up. These people were idolaters; idolatry is an offence against GOD; the civil power has no authority to meddle with what belongs to Him, without especial directions, certified in the most unequivocal way. Private revenge, extension of territory, love of plunder, were to have no place in this business; the Lord is to be avenged; and through HIM the children of Israel, (Nu 31:2), because their souls as well as their bodies had been well nigh ruined by their idolatry.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Num 31:3. Avenge the Lord — What in the…
Num 31:3. Avenge the Lord — What in the preceding verse is termed avenging Israel, is here called avenging the Lord, because by their idolatry and lewdness, and by seducing God’s people into rebellion against him, they had offered a high affront to him. God’s great care was to avenge the Israelites, and Moses’s chief desire was to avenge God, rather than himself or the people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Avenge the Lord of Midian - The war against…
Avenge the Lord of Midian - The war against the Midianites was no ordinary war. It was indeed less a war than the execution of a divine sentence against a most guilty people.
Doubtless there were many among the Midianites who were personally guiltless as regards Israel. But the rulers deliberately adopted the counsel of Balaam against Israel, and their behests had been but too readily obeyed by their subjects. The sin therefore was national, and the retribution could be no less so.
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But the commission of the Israelites in the text must not be conceived as a general license to slay. They had no discretion to kill or to spare. They were bidden to exterminate without mercy, and brought back to their task Num 31:14 when they showed signs of flinching from it. They had no alternarive in this and similar matters except to fulfill the commands of God; an awful but doubtless salutary manifestation, as was afterward the slaughter of the Canaanites, of God’s wrath against sin; and a type of the future extermination of sin and sinners from His kingdom.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Arm some of yourselves--This order was issued but a…
Arm some of yourselves--This order was issued but a short time before the death of Moses. The announcement to him of that approaching event [Num 31:2] seems to have accelerated, rather than retarded, his warlike preparations.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. Arm some of yourselves — The strong faith…
3. Arm some of yourselves — The strong faith of Moses that Jehovah would signally interpose in behalf of Israel is seen in the order to call out but one fiftieth of the army, though Midian, judging from the five kings slain, and the greatness of the spoils, was a mighty foe.
Avenge the Lord — It was pre-eminently Jehovah’s war in vindication of his own honour, for he who touches his people touches the apple of his eye.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) Arm some of yourselves . . . —Better,…
(3) Arm some of yourselves . . . —Better, Arm from among you (or, from those with you) men for the war. The details of the selection are contained in the next verse.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Avenge the Lord of Midian. God, speaking to Moses,…
Avenge the Lord of Midian. God, speaking to Moses, had commanded a war of vengeance; Moses, speaking to the people, is careful to command a war of religious vengeance. In seducing the people of the Lord the Midianites had insulted and injured the majesty of God himself. On the question why Midian only, and not Moab also, was punished see on Num_25:17. It is to be remembered that, however hateful the sins of licentiousness and idolatry may be, they have never aroused by themselves the exterminating wrath of God. Midian was smitten because he had deliberately used these sins as weapons wherewith to take the life of Israel.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Arm some of your men for war
Arm some of your men for war
"Give weapons to some of your men"
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go against Midian and carry out Yahweh's vengeance on it
"go fight a war against the Midianites and punish them for what they did to us"
a thousand ... twelve thousand
"1,000 ... 12,000" (See: Numbers)
Israel's thousands of men
"the thousands of Israel's men"
one thousand was provided from each tribe
This can be stated in active form. AT: "every tribe sent 1,000 men to war" (See: Active or Passive)
twelve thousand men armed for war
All 12 tribes sent men, including the tribe of Levi. Each tribe sent 1,000 men into battle. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
translationWords
avenge
tribe
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 31:3-5 Each tribe contributed 1,000 men for the battle,…
31:3-5 Each tribe contributed 1,000 men for the battle, which enabled all of them to gain experience in combat and share in the victory.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.