VENGEANCE — the root behind both the command and the verb Moses gives the people three times in two verses at Numbers 31:2-3 (now on these pages): 'avenge the children of Israel... to execute Jehovah's vengeance.' The chapter never once uses the word of a grievance belonging to Israel itself — it is JEHOVAH'S vengeance Moses is ordered to execute, on a nation that, by the chapter's own account (v16), seduced Israel into the sin at Peor. ⚠️ The sharper question the word raises sits two books ahead: Deuteronomy 32:35 (not yet on these pages) has God claim naqam as his own — 'Vengeance is Mine, and recompense' — a verse Paul later quotes almost verbatim (Romans 12:19, not yet on these pages) to tell Christians NOT to avenge themselves. This chapter is the one place in the Torah where a human army is explicitly deputized to carry out what the Torah elsewhere reserves to God alone. → first discussed at Num 31:2