What Does Numbers 31:16 Mean?
Look, these caused the children of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, to break trust with the LORD in the word of Peor, and a blow came among the congregation of the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.THE KEY
Here trespass is a breach of allegiance whose harm reaches beyond its immediate actors and strikes the whole congregation.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now by showing how a word of influence can lead into betrayal of the LORD, with harm spreading through a congregation. It names both Balaam’s counsel and the women as agents, then names the plague among the people. The breach is communal in its consequences, not contained to one person.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that betrayal stays private: the verse traces its consequence into the whole congregation.
THE ROOT
מַעַל
ma'al
GROWS FROM
מעל
To act treacherously or unfaithfully; to breach trust.
“break trust” in this verse is ma'al. The root carries disloyalty, so trespass here has a relational edge: allegiance to the LORD is betrayed. The verse then shows that breach reaching beyond its actors into the congregation.
ALSO GROWS
lim'ol: To act unfaithfully or treacherously.
לִמְעֹל
This verbal form shows trespass as an act of broken trust, not merely a mistake.
me'ilah: Unfaithfulness, treachery, or sacrilege.
מְעִילָה
This noun keeps the focus on a breach of relationship and allegiance.
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word, saying, or matter.
The verse places the breach בתוך the davar associated with Balaam: the word and the matter share one term. Speech is bound to what unfolds through it.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: To speak or utter.
דִּבֵּר
This verbal branch brings the spoken word behind the counsel into view.
davar: A word, saying, matter, or affair.
דָּבָר
The same word can name both what is said and the matter at hand, joining Balaam’s speech to the ensuing breach.
מַגֵּפָה
magephah
GROWS FROM
נגף
To strike or strike against.
“blow” in this verse is magephah. The root makes the plague concrete as a striking. The verse’s final image is not an abstract consequence but harm named among the congregation.
ALSO GROWS
nagaph: To strike or smite.
נָגַף
This verb shows the physical force carried by the root beneath “plague.”
niggaf: To be struck or smitten.
נִגַּף
This form brings the receiving of the blow into the root’s range of meaning.
THE PATTERN
When a word of influence draws a community into divided allegiance, the breach becomes a wound borne by the community.
And Israel settled in Shittim, and the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people to the slaughtered offerings of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods. And Israel yoked himself to Baalpeor, and the burning of the LORD's anger was kindled against Israel.They yoked themselves to Baal-peor, and ate the slaughtered offerings for the dead. Thus they vexed him with their deeds, and the striking burst out upon them.But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who grip the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a snare before the children of Israel, to eat things offered to images and to commit fornication.THE THREAD
And he went after the man of Israel into the chamber, and pierced them both, the man of Israel and the woman, through her chamber. So the blow was held back from the children of Israel.Both verses use מַגֵּפָה (magephah), from the root נ-ג-ף, “to strike.” Numbers 25:8 holds the plague beside violence done to bodies and says it is stayed; the same word in 31:16 keeps the congregation’s harm concrete.
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