What Does Numbers 31:5 Mean in the King James?

So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

Numbers 31:5 · KJV

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 men called “armed” here share a Hebrew root with those “delivered” from danger elsewhere: both are drawn out, though one group is drawn out for war.

THE MEANING

War is assembled through exact shares: one thousand men from each of Israel’s twelve tribes make up twelve thousand armed men. The Hebrew word translated “armed” shares a root with a word for drawing someone out of danger, while “delivered” carries the sense of being handed over. The verse makes the handover and the violence plain: the men are counted and equipped for war.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The army is not detached from the people behind it: every tribe supplies a counted share.

THE ROOT

חֲלוּצֵי

ḥalutzê

GROWS FROM

חלץ

Draw out, remove; also equip for battle or draw someone out of danger.

English makes “armed” and “delivereth” look unrelated, while Hebrew holds both under ⁨חלץ⁩: drawing out or removing. Here that motion equips men for battle; in Psalm 34:7 it describes people drawn out of danger.

ALSO GROWS

ḥalutz: A person drawn out and equipped for battle.

חָלוּץ

This is the word-form behind “armed”: the men are drawn out of their tribes and equipped for war.

vayḥaltzem: He delivers them, draws them out.

וַיְחַלְּצֵם

Psalm 34:7 uses the same root for being drawn out of danger, revealing a connection English does not show.

וַיִּמָּסְרוּ

wayyimmāsrū

GROWS FROM

מסר

Hand over, entrust, deliver into another’s charge.

“delivered out” in this verse is wayyimmāsrū. The word rendered “delivered” carries the sense of a handover: these men pass from Israel’s counted groups into the war force. The root brings that transfer into view before the verse names them as equipped for battle.

ALSO GROWS

masar: To hand over or entrust.

מָסַר

This active form clarifies the handover beneath the verse’s passive wording.

mesirah: Handing over; delivery.

מְסִירָה

This noun keeps the concrete sense of transfer present in “delivered out of the thousands.”

THE PATTERN

A community’s larger work takes shape through people drawn from its constituent groups.

From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.

Numbers 1:3 · KJVThe fighting force is made legible through a count of the people organized by their tribes.

Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the children of Israel, out of every tribe a man:

Joshua 4:4 · KJVTwelve men, one from each tribe, carry a shared task on behalf of the whole people.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

Acts 6:3 · KJVThe assembly selects a defined group from among itself and entrusts them with a shared task.

THE THREAD

The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.

Psalm 34:7 · KJV

The same root underlies “armed” here and “delivereth” there: one form names men drawn out and equipped for battle, the other names people drawn out of danger. The shared root reveals a connection English leaves hidden, while each verse keeps its own scene.

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