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Numbers 31:4-6
New English Translation
Numbers 31:4-6
New English Translation
4 You must send to the battle 1,000 men from every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel.”[a] 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[b] of the holy articles[c] and the signal trumpets.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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.”
New English Translation (NET)
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