What Does Numbers 31:18 Mean in the King James?
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse calls this survival, but “for yourselves” leaves the girls under the victors’ control, so being kept alive is not the same as being free.
THE MEANING
This command singles out girls among the captives who have not had sex with a man and orders them kept alive for the victors. Their survival remains inside captivity; the verse leaves their later treatment unstated.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being spared from death necessarily means being safe or free: the girls are kept for the victors, and the verse grants no release.
THE ROOT
הַחֲיוּ
haḥăyû
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥāyâ (חָיָה) means “to live”; in this causative form, “make live” or “keep alive.”
“keep alive” in this verse is haḥăyû. The verb gives the captors control over whether the girls live, while “for yourselves” places that survival within their claim. The root means life; it does not itself mean freedom or safety.
ALSO GROWS
chai: living, alive
חַי
This everyday form shares the root for “keep alive,” tying the command to the state of being alive.
ḥayyim: life
חַיִּים
The same root holds “life” and “keep alive” together, but this verse makes clear that life under a captor is not the same as release.
יָדְעוּ
yāḏəʿû
GROWS FROM
ידע
yādaʿ (יָדַע) means “know” or “perceive,” including knowing through familiarity or encounter.
“known” in this verse is yāḏəʿû. English “know” can sound like information, but here the phrase “by lying with him” makes the sexual sense explicit. The root names knowing; the surrounding words set the specific meaning and make sexual history the criterion for the girls’ survival.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: knowledge, understanding
דַּעַת
This noun shares the root and shows its broader range beyond sexual knowing.
yōḏēaʿ: one who knows
יֹדֵעַ
This form names a knower; the root itself does not assign value to someone based on what they know or have experienced.
THE PATTERN
Scripture distinguishes being kept alive under another’s power from being released from captivity.
And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.Ezekiel’s “Live” shares the Hebrew root חיה (ḥāyâ, “to live”) with “keep alive” here. One verse speaks life to a figure lying in blood; the other commands captors to preserve girls “for yourselves.” The shared root names life, while the surrounding words reveal whether survival comes as rescue or remains under another’s control.
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