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Numbers 31:18 stands as one of the most difficult and controversial verses in the Old Testament. It occurs in the aftermath of Israel’s war against the Midianites—a divinely commanded judgment due to Midian’s seduction of Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality (cf. Numbers 25:1–18). The judgment was severe and absolute: men, women who had known a man, and male children were to be killed (Numbers 31:17), while only the young girls who had not “known man by lying with him” were to be spared and taken captive.
The verse in the Updated American Standard Version (UASV) reads:
“But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.” —Numbers 31:18 UASV
The issue under consideration is how the euphemistic Hebrew phrase is handled in translation. Many modern translations abandon the literal wording, replacing it with simplified or softened expressions such as “virgins” (NIV) or “not slept with a man” (NLT). While these may communicate the intended result, they obscure the structure, force, and careful precision of the original inspired wording.
This article will address the importance of preserving the literal euphemistic construction אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יָדְעוּ מִשְׁכַּב זָכָר (’ăšer lōʾ yāḏəʿû miškaḇ zāḵār)—“who have not known a lying with a male.” We will explore the grammatical and lexical structure of the phrase, examine how it functions within the Hebrew moral and literary tradition, analyze its implications for faithful translation, and expose the interpretive overreach and theological risks in paraphrastic renderings.
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The Hebrew Construction: Grammatical and Lexical Precision
The phrase in question is:
אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדְעוּ מִשְׁכַּב זָכָר
ʾăšer lōʾ yāḏəʿû miškaḇ zāḵār
“who have not known a lying with a male”
This is a constructed euphemism composed of three key elements:
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יָדַע (yāḏaʿ) – “to know”: This Hebrew verb frequently functions as a euphemism for sexual intercourse (e.g., Genesis 4:1, “Adam knew Eve his wife”).
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מִשְׁכַּב (miškaḇ) – “lying”: A noun form from the root שָׁכַב (šākab), meaning “to lie down,” often with sexual connotations (cf. Leviticus 18:22; 20:13).
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זָכָר (zāḵār) – “male”: A term specifying gender, intensifying the phrase’s directness while still maintaining the euphemism.
The literal structure is: “who have not known a lying of a male”, which is a formulaic and carefully chosen euphemism in Hebrew. It avoids crude expression while still clearly denoting sexual relations.
Importantly, the passage does not simply say “virgins,” nor does it use terms that could be equated to biological virginity (bethulah) or sexual naivety (naʿarah). Instead, it presents an experiential description—what the girls had or had not done, not merely what they were. This precision matters.
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Lexical Alternatives Rejected by the Inspired Text
The Hebrew language has multiple terms for young or unmarried women that are not used in this verse:
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בְּתוּלָה (bethulah) – “virgin”: Used extensively elsewhere (e.g., Genesis 24:16; Deuteronomy 22:15, 17–21), this term would have been appropriate if the author intended to state biological virginity directly.
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נַעֲרָה (naʿarah) – “girl, maiden”: Used generically for young unmarried women, often without connotation of sexual experience.
The absence of bethulah is deliberate. It signals that the issue is not only biological virginity but sexual experience as determined by personal history—not a theoretical or cultural status. The girls spared were not just labeled “virgins” in some generic or ceremonial sense; they were those whose lives had not included a sexual relationship with a male. The euphemistic but explicit phrase achieves this nuance with surgical precision. No modern term such as “virgin” can carry this combination of euphemism, experience-based criteria, and legal-theological significance.
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The Role of Euphemism in Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew euphemism serves both modesty and clarity. Sexual acts are discussed often in the Hebrew Bible, yet never in vulgar or crude language. Instead, expressions such as “to uncover nakedness,” “to lie with,” and “to know” form a lexicon of moral restraint. In Leviticus 18 and 20, these euphemisms are employed consistently to frame God’s law regarding sexual conduct.
Numbers 31:18 follows this tradition. “To know the lying of a male” is more detailed than the simple “to know” (yāḏaʿ), and more restrained than “to lie with” (šākab). The layered construction demonstrates the inspired author’s deliberate restraint, conveying the act’s nature and moral weight without crudeness. It is this balance that must be preserved in translation.
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Comparison of English Translations
Faithful Renderings: UASV, ESV, NASB
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UASV: “who have not known man by lying with him”
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ESV: “who have not known man by lying with him”
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NASB: “who have not known man intimately”
These translations retain the euphemism or close analogs. The UASV and ESV preserve the full phrase nearly word-for-word. The NASB (1995 and 2020) alters “lying with him” to “intimately,” which moves toward interpretation but still retains euphemistic structure.
This form allows readers to recognize the Biblical idiom, trace cross-references (e.g., Leviticus 18), and evaluate the text without having the interpretive work done for them.
Interpretive Renderings: NIV, NLT
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NIV: “only the young girls who have never slept with a man”
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NLT: “only the young girls who are virgins may live”
The NIV softens the euphemism into a modern idiom—“slept with”—which in English carries far more colloquial and less formal tone. It no longer conveys the same moral force or covenantal context as the Hebrew original. Furthermore, “slept with” erases the formal, legal, and ritual dimensions present in miškaḇ zāḵār.
The NLT takes the greatest liberties, replacing the euphemism with “are virgins”—a term not present in the Hebrew. While it is interpretively plausible, it removes the emphasis on sexual experience and action, replacing it with a state of being that could theoretically exist without specific confirmation. It also strips the text of its euphemistic modesty and replaces it with flat interpretation.
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Theological Ramifications of Translation Choices
The deliberate wording of Numbers 31:18 exists within a legal, moral, and theological framework. Sexual purity in the Old Testament is never merely ceremonial or symbolic; it has real ethical and communal implications. In this wartime judgment, God commands through Moses a standard for distinguishing between those involved in sexual immorality and those not. This reflects the earlier sin at Baal Peor (Numbers 25), where Midianite women seduced Israelite men, triggering divine wrath.
The spared girls in Numbers 31:18 are not chosen based on tribal affiliation or assumed innocence but on demonstrable sexual inexperience. That experience is expressed through the Hebrew idiom—not crude, not interpretive, but exact.
By preserving that exact expression, the UASV, ESV, and NASB allow the theological purpose of the passage to be visible. Interpretive translations such as the NIV and NLT obscure this purpose by inserting modern categories and collapsing moral categories into biological terminology.
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The Broader Canonical Echoes of “Knowing by Lying”
Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible, this euphemistic phrasing appears in similar constructions:
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Genesis 19:8: “they have not known a man” (lōʾ yāḏəʿû ʾîš)
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Judges 11:39: “she had not known a man”
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Judges 21:11: “every woman who has known man by lying with him”
These phrases consistently express not a status (virginity) but a lived reality (no sexual contact). This is crucial for consistency in translation and theological interpretation.
When Numbers 31:18 is harmonized with these other verses, the euphemism stands as a recognizable legal and narrative idiom. To rephrase or substitute it breaks that canonical continuity and erases the intertextual connections that readers of Scripture need to discern patterns, principles, and theological coherence.
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Conclusion: Translators Must Preserve Inspired Euphemisms
Translating euphemism faithfully is not an exercise in formalism—it is an act of obedience to the inspired text. The phrase in Numbers 31:18 is not crude, nor is it merely descriptive. It is a measured, theologically loaded, euphemistic expression that fits within a network of similar biblical phrases. Its preservation in English allows readers to understand God’s Word as He conveyed it—not reworded, reinterpreted, or culturally softened.
Literal translations like the UASV, ESV, and NASB are to be commended for preserving the euphemistic phrasing. The NIV and NLT, in contrast, undermine the inspired wording and cloud the text’s clarity and moral purpose by imposing modern idiom and paraphrased interpretation.
Scripture’s authority demands accuracy. The translator’s job is not to soften or modernize God’s Word, but to render it faithfully and transparently—especially in morally weighty and sensitive passages like Numbers 31:18.
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