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31 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.

Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.

And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.

And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.

And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beer they killed with the sword.

And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:

10 And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.

11 And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.

12 And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.

13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp.

14 And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,

15 Said: Why have you saved the women?

16 Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished?

17 Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men.

18 But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

19 And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day.

20 And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified.

21 Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses:

22 Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin,

23 And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation:

24 And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.

25 And the Lord said to Moses:

26 Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude:

27 And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude.

28 And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep.

29 And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

30 Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.

31 And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.

32 And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

33 Seventy-two thousand oxen,

34 Sixty-one thousand asses:

35 And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.

36 And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

37 Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep.

38 And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:

39 Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:

40 Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.

41 And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,

42 Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.

43 But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

44 And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,

45 And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,

46 And out of the sixteen thousand persons,

47 Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

48 And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:

49 We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting.

50 Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,

52 In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.

53 For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.

54 And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.

Vengeance on the Midianites

31 The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites(A) for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.(B)

So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance(C) on them. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” So twelve thousand men armed for battle,(D) a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. Moses sent them into battle,(E) a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas(F) son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary(G) and the trumpets(H) for signaling.

They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses,(I) and killed every man.(J) Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba(K)—the five kings of Midian.(L) They also killed Balaam son of Beor(M) with the sword.(N) The Israelites captured the Midianite women(O) and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.(P) 10 They burned(Q) all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.(R) 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,(S) 12 and brought the captives, spoils(T) and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly(U) at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.(V)

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army(W)—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice(X) and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident,(Y) so that a plague(Z) struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,(AA) 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

19 “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed(AB) must stay outside the camp seven days.(AC) On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves(AD) and your captives. 20 Purify every garment(AE) as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.(AF)

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle,(AG) “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron,(AH) tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire,(AI) and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing.(AJ) And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean.(AK) Then you may come into the camp.(AL)

Dividing the Spoils

25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads(AM) of the community are to count all the people(AN) and animals that were captured.(AO) 27 Divide(AP) the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord(AQ) one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. 29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part. 30 From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.(AR) 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 The plunder remaining from the spoils(AS) that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys 35 and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.

36 The half share of those who fought in the battle was:

337,500 sheep, 37 of which the tribute for the Lord(AT) was 675;

38 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord was 72;

39 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord was 61;

40 16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the Lord was 32.

41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part,(AU) as the Lord commanded Moses.(AV)

42 The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men— 43 the community’s half—was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys 46 and 16,000 people. 47 From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the Lord commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.

48 Then the officers(AW) who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses 49 and said to him, “Your servants have counted(AX) the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.(AY) 50 So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves(AZ) before the Lord.”

51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles. 52 All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed 16,750 shekels.[a] 53 Each soldier had taken plunder(BA) for himself. 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting(BB) as a memorial(BC) for the Israelites before the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 31:52 That is, about 420 pounds or about 190 kilograms