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Passage Research

Numbers 31 — Sermon Preparation

Israel wages war against Midian, kills their five kings and Balaam, and takes plunder; the spoils are divided between soldiers, congregation, and the sanctuary according to set fractions. Below is a research summary for Numbers 31, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

54
verses
677 / 173
Hebrew words / lemmas
10
classic sermon excerpts
3
preachers & commentators

Numbers 31 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

HebrewTransliterationStrong'sCountGlosses
אֶלֶףʼelephH50530thousand
מֹשֶׁהMôshehH487221Mosheh
צָבָאtsâbâʼH663315mass, army
מֵאָהmêʼâhH396714hundred
אֶלְעָזָרʼElʻâzârH49910Elazar
מֶכֶסmekeçH43716assessment
שְׁלוֹשִׁיםshᵉlôwshîymH79708thirty, thirtieth

How preachers through history handled this text

10 public-domain excerpts on Numbers 31, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Matthew Henry7Calvin2John Wesley1

“Whatever we have, God justly claims a part. Out of the people's share God required one in fifty, but out of the soldiers' share only one in five hundred. The less opportunity we have of honouring God with personal services, the more should we give in money or value.”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), on Numbers 31:25–47 (Public Domain)

Places in the text

Based on ancient-geography data

  • Jericho 1— Num 31:12
  • Jordan— Num 31:12
  • Moab 2— Num 31:12
  • Peor— Num 31:16
  • Midian— Num 31:3

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