Numbers 31:21

Modern

Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

Traditional

And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses;

Literal

And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that YHWH has commanded Moses:

Latin

Eleazar quoque sacerdos ad viros exercitus, qui pugnaverunt, sic locutus est: Hoc est præceptum legis, quod mandavit Dominus Moysi:

Hebrew

English

Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

Israelite soldiers who touched dead bodies became ceremonially unclean (ritually impure). They had to go through the required purification rituals.

These rituals were routine, but they were important. They also had to purify their equipment (see 5:1–4; 19:1–22).

Theme notes and profiles

Numbers 30:16
These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.

Eleazar: Son of Aaron, high priest after his father Moses: Prophet who led Israel out of Egypt