Numbers 31
1 The LORD spoke to Moses:
2 “Take vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.”
3 Moses said to the people, “Prepare men from among you for war. They are to go against Midian and carry out the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.
4 You are to send a thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes of Israel, into battle.”
5 From the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were supplied: twelve thousand armed for battle.
6 Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who carried the sacred articles and the signal trumpets.
7 They fought against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every male.
8 Besides those who fell, they killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9 The Israelites took the Midianite women and children captive, and plundered all their livestock, flocks, and possessions.
10 They burned with fire all the towns where they lived and all their encampments.
11 They took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals.
12 They brought the captives, the plunder, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite community, at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the community leaders went out to meet them outside the camp.
14 Moses was angry with the army commanders, the officers over thousands and the officers over hundreds, who had returned from the campaign.
15 Moses said to them, “Did you let all the women live?
16 They were the ones who, following Balaam’s advice, led the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the matter of Peor, and the plague came upon the LORD’s community.
17 Now kill every boy among the children, and kill every woman who has slept with a man.
18 But keep alive for yourselves all the girls who have not slept with a man.
19 As for you, camp outside the camp for seven days. Everyone who has killed someone or touched a dead body must purify himself on the third and seventh days—you and your captives.
20 Purify every garment, every leather article, every item made of goat hair, and every wooden object as well.”
21 Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who had gone to war, “This is the rule of the law that the LORD commanded Moses:
22 Only the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead.
23 “Anything that can withstand fire, pass through the fire, and it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of purification. Anything that cannot withstand fire, pass through the water.
24 On the seventh day, wash your clothes and you will be clean. After that, you may enter the camp.”
25 The LORD said to Moses:
26 “Count the captives taken, both people and animals—you, Eleazar the priest, and the family heads of the community.
27 Divide the plunder between the soldiers who went out to battle and the whole community.
28 Set aside a tribute for the LORD from the soldiers who went out to battle: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, and sheep.
29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s contribution.
30 From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and all other livestock, and give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle.”
31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
32 The plunder—the remainder of what the troops had taken—amounted to 675,000 sheep.
33 There were 72,000 cattle,
34 61,000 donkeys,
35 and 32,000 people in all, the women who had not slept with a man.
36 The half allotted to those who went out to battle amounted to 337,500 sheep.
37 The tribute to the LORD from the sheep was 675.
38 The cattle numbered 36,000, and the tribute to the LORD was seventy-two.
39 The donkeys numbered 30,500, and the tribute to the LORD was sixty-one.
40 The people numbered 16,000, and the tribute to the LORD was thirty-two people.
41 Moses gave the tribute, the LORD’s contribution, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
42 As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses had separated from the share of the men who went to war:
43 The community’s half amounted to 337,500 sheep,
44 36,000 cattle,
45 30,500 donkeys,
46 and 16,000 people.
47 From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
48 The commanders over the army’s thousands, the officers over thousands and the officers over hundreds, approached Moses.
49 They said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war under our command, and not one of us is missing.
50 So we have brought the LORD an offering: each man is bringing whatever gold articles he found—anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, every kind of crafted article.
52 All the gold of the contribution they presented to the LORD, from the officers over thousands and the officers over hundreds, weighed 16,750 shekels.
53 The men of the army had each taken plunder for himself.
54 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the officers over thousands and hundreds and brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.
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