Numbers 31:8

Summary

The verse reports that the Israelites killed the five kings of Midian — Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba — along with the rest of the slain, and also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

Key words

• harGu ("they killed", H2026) — qal perfect, third person plural, appearing twice in the verse (once for the kings, once for Balaam), marking both killings as completed action.
• mal'khei ("kings of", H4428G) — masculine plural construct form, linking "kings" to "Midian"; used twice to frame the list of five names.
• challeiHem ("their slain", H2491A + H9028) — masculine plural construct noun with third-person plural possessive suffix, indicating the group among whom the kings fell.
• chaMeshet ("five of", H2568) — cardinal number in construct form, directly governing mal'khei Midyan ("kings of Midian") to total the count.
• ben- ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct, attaching Balaam's name to his father Beor's.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two parallel actions, each closed by the same verb harGu ("they killed", H2026) in the qal perfect. The first clause states that "the kings of Midian" (mal'khei Midyan) were killed "along with" ('al, H5921A) "their slain" (challeiHem) — a phrasing that places the five kings within a larger group of casualties rather than isolating them as a separate event. Each king's name (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, Reba) is introduced with the direct object marker 'et (H0853), a grammatical particle with no independent meaning that simply flags each name as the object of the killing. After listing the five names, the text restates chaMeshet mal'khei Midyan ("five kings of Midian"), a summarizing appositive that confirms the count matches the preceding list.

The second clause repeats harGu to describe the killing of Bil'am ben-Be'or ("Balaam son of Beor"), specifying the instrument as bechArev ("with the sword", H2719 with preposition-article H9003). The repetition of the verb, rather than a single conjunction linking Balaam to the list of kings, sets his death apart as a distinct statement, even though it occurs within the same verse and the same military action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'al challeiHem ("with/upon their slain") as ἅμα τοῖς τραυματίαις αὐτῶν ("together with their wounded/slain"), and adds this same phrase σὺν τοῖς τραυματίαις αὐτῶν at the end of the verse after Balaam's death, a repetition not present in the Hebrew or the Vulgate. The Vulgate omits any equivalent to 'al challeiHem entirely, moving directly from "and their kings" to naming them. The BSB restructures the Hebrew's verb-first construction into "Among the slain were...," shifting emphasis from the act of killing to the list of the dead.