Numbers 31:40 (KJV)

What does Numbers 31:40 mean?

Numbers 31:40 records people taken captive in Israel’s war against Midian as part of the goods divided after the battle. The verse counts 16,000 people in the share given to the soldiers and sets apart 32 of them as the LORD’s required share.

The narrator reports the count as part of an inventory. The people counted were women and girls who had not had sexual relations with a man, as specified in Numbers 31:18 and 31:35. The verse places them alongside livestock in the division of what was taken.

The Hebrew behind Numbers 31:40

• “persons” — נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh): The word can mean a living being or a person. Here it refers to human lives being counted, not just to a part of a person.
• “tribute” — מֶכֶס (mekhes): The word means a required portion or levy. Here it names a share set aside from the soldiers’ portion for the LORD.

Why Numbers 31:40 matters

• The 32 were part of the 16,000, not an additional group. The words “of which” identify them as the LORD’s share from that total.
• The number follows the rule given to Moses for the soldiers’ share: one out of every 500 people and animals was to be set apart for the LORD (Numbers 31:28). Thirty-two is one five-hundredth of 16,000.
• The LORD’s share was assigned to Eleazar the priest. Numbers 31:41 says Moses gave Eleazar the required portion, as the LORD had commanded.