וְכֹל֙ הַטַּ֣ף בַּנָּשִׁ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹא יָדְע֖וּ מִשְׁכַּ֣ב זָכָ֑ר הַחֲי֖וּ לָכֶֽם
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
World English Bible · Public Domain
Numbers 31:18
Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Numbers 31:18 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
English Translation
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Compare translations 3
The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.
Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.
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World English Bible Public Domain
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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King James Version Public Domain
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
And keep alive for yourselves every child among the women who has not known the bed of a male.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Show all 18 translations
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
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World English Bible Public Domain
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.
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Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.
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King James Version Public Domain
But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
But all the women-children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
But all the women children that haue not knowen carnall copulation, keepe aliue for your selues.
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Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:
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Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves.
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Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
and all the infants among the women who have not known the lying of a male you have kept alive for yourselves.
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Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
But take for yourselves all the young girls who have never slept with a man.
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unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
And keep alive for yourselves every child among the women who has not known the bed of a male.
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Darby Bible Public Domain
but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.
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World Messianic Bible Public Domain
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Webster's Bible Public Domain
But all the female children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
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Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
Let all the girls who are virgins live. They are yours.
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Bible in Basic English Public Domain
But all the female children who have had no sex relations with men, you may keep for yourselves.
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JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
Word by word
More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →
Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →
הַטַּ֣ף
ṭaph
H2945
“the · little children”
Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- Appears 42× in the Hebrew Bible
- First appears at Genesis 34:29
- Part of Speech
- Particle + Noun
- Type
- Common
- Gender
- Masculine
- Number
- Singular
- State
- Absolute
Full BDB Definition
children, little children, little ones
- וְכֹל֙ kôl H3605 “and · all of” Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
- הַטַּ֣ף ṭaph H2945 “the · little children” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- בַּנָּשִׁ֔ים ʼishshâh H802 “in/at the · women” Preposition, Determined + Noun, Common, Feminine, Plural, Absolute
- אֲשֶׁ֥ר ʼăsher H834 “which” Particle, Relative
- לֹא lôʼ H3808 “not” Particle, Negative
- יָדְע֖וּ yâdaʻ H3045 “to know” Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Common, Plural
- מִשְׁכַּ֣ב mishkâb H4904 “bed of” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct
- זָכָ֑ר zâkâr H2145 “male” Adjective, Adjective, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
- הַחֲי֖וּ châyâh H2421 “live” Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural
About this verse
These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
- 10
- words
- 9
- distinct lemmas
- Pentateuch
- section
Shared distinctive vocabulary
הַטַּ֣ף little children H2945 occurs in 42 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:
Grammatical profile
- 2 verbs
- 4 nouns
- 1 adjective
- 1 preposition
- 2 particles
Verb forms
- יָדְע֖וּ Qal · Perfect
- הַחֲי֖וּ Hiphil · Imperative
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 17 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 10 Hebrew tokens and 12 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Cross-references
5Topical passages linked to Numbers 31:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 21:10–14 When you go forth to battle against your enemies, and Yahweh your God delivers them into your hands, and you carry them away captive,
- Leviticus 25:44 "'As for your male and your female slaves, whom you may have; of the nations that are around you, from them you may buy male and female slaves.
- Deuteronomy 20:14 but the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil of it, shall you take for a prey to yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which Yahweh your God has given you.
- 2 Chronicles 28:8–10 The children of Israel carried away captive of their brothers two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
- Isaiah 14:2 The peoples shall take them, and bring them to their place; and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of Yahweh for servants and for handmaids: and they shall take them captive whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
πᾶς ὁ ἀπαρτία ὁ γυνή ὅστις οὐ οἶδα κοίτη ἄρσην ζωγρέω αὐτός
And as for all the captivity of women, who have not known the lying with man, save you⌃ them alive.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
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Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
וְכָל טַפְלָא בִנְשַׁיָא דִי לָא יְדָעוּ מִשְׁכַּב דְכוּרָא קַיְימוּ לְכוֹן
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
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Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
וְכָל טַפְלָא בִּנְשַׁיָא אוֹקִימוּ כֻּלוֹ קֳבֵיל צִיצָא כְּלִילָא דְקוּדְשָׁא וְיִסְתַּכְּלוּן בֵּיהּ וּמַאן דְהִיא מִבְעֲלָא לִגְבַר יִתְעַבְדוּן אַפָּהָא מוֹרִיקָן וּמַאן דְלָא יְדַע מִשְׁכְּבֵי דְכוּרָא יְהוֹן סַמְקִין אַפָּהָא הֵיךְ נוּרָא וּתְקַיְימוּנוּן לְכוֹן
but every female child you shall stand before the Crown of Holiness, (the priest's tiara,) and look upon her: she who is not a virgin will be pallid in the face, but she who is a virgin child will blush in the face, like fire; them you shall spare.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Lesson kit
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Numbers, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 10 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ṭaph (“little children”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Discussion questions
- The word ṭaph carries the sense “little children.” How does it shape the verse?
- How does Genesis 34:29, which shares the word «little children», read alongside this verse?
- These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
- «יָדְע֖וּ» is a Qal Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
- Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?
Things to notice
- This verse counts 10 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
- These translations choose different wording for 15 words in this verse.
- 9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 10 words in this verse.
Commentary
Notes on Numbers 31:18 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Trapp's Complete Commentary
John Trapp
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes
Door43 World Missions Community
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.