Numbers 31

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midʹianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” ³And Moses said to the people, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midʹian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midʹian. ⁴You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinʹehas the son of Eleaʹzar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷They warred against Midʹian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and slew every male. ⁸They slew the kings of Midʹian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midʹian; and they also slew Balaam the son of Beʹor with the sword. ⁹And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midʹian and their little ones; and they took as booty all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰All their cities in the places where they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burned with fire, ¹¹and took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast. ¹²Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleaʹzar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³Moses, and Eleaʹzar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶Behold, these caused the people of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peʹor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹Encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹And Eleaʹzar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: ²²only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp.”

²⁵The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶“Take the count of the booty that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleaʹzar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation; ²⁷and divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the flocks; ²⁹take it from their half, and give it to Eleaʹzar the priest as an offering to the Lord. ³⁰And from the people of Israel’s half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹And Moses and Eleaʹzar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³²Now the booty remaining of the spoil that the men of war took was: six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴sixty-one thousand asses, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶And the half, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ³⁷and the Lord’s tribute of sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹The asses were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹And Moses gave the tribute, which was the offering for the Lord, to Eleaʹzar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴²From the people of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had gone to war—⁴³now the congregation’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand five hundred asses, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons—⁴⁷from the people of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses, ⁴⁹and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹And Moses and Eleaʹzar the priest received from them the gold, all wrought articles. ⁵²And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³(The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴And Moses and Eleaʹzar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.