Verse Lens · Context pointer
Numbers 31:5 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 5. 5So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Numbers 31:5 within “Moses Musters Twelve Thousand for Vengeance on Midian,” states this military action, victim, captive, spoil, command, or consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
Read It With
- Numbers 31:1–6
Read Numbers 31:5 with 31:1–6. It within “Moses Musters Twelve Thousand for Vengeance on Midian,” states this military action, victim, captive, spoil, command, or consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: The LORD commands vengeance on Midian before Moses' death; Moses frames it as the LORD's vengeance, requires one thousand armed men from each tribe, and sends them with Phinehas, sacred objects, and alarm trumpets.
Why It Needs Context
Numbers 31:5 within “Moses Musters Twelve Thousand for Vengeance on Midian,” states this military action, victim, captive, spoil, command, or consequence; in lightly modernized wording, the clause reads: So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. Its responsible force depends on 31:1–6; isolated from “Moses Musters Twelve Thousand for Vengeance on Midian,” the verse's actor, action, reason, object, or transition could be mistaken for independent teaching.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Numbers 31:1–6 — Moses Musters Twelve Thousand for Vengeance on MidianSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 31:1–6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 31:1–6
Open source ↗