Numbers 31

1Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2Take vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.

3So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the army, and let them go against Midian to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian.”

4A thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the army.

5So from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were assigned: twelve thousand armed for war.

6So Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets for the battle cry in his hand.

7So they waged war against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9The sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and plundered all their livestock, all their herds, and all their wealth.

10And they burned with fire all their cities in their dwelling places, and all their encampments.

11And they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both man and beast.

12And they brought the captives, the prey, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp on the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

13Then Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out 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 were coming from the service of the war.

15Moses said to them, “Have you kept alive every female?”

16Look, these women were the ones who, at Balaam’s word, caused the sons of Israel to act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague came upon the congregation of Yahweh.

17So now, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with him.

18But keep alive for yourselves every young girl among the women who has not known the bed of a man.

19And you, camp outside the camp for seven days. Everyone who has killed a person, and everyone who has touched one slain, shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day—you and your captives.

20And every garment, and every article of leather, and every work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood, you shall purify.

21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who had come to the battle, “This is the statute of the law that Yahweh commanded Moses:”

22Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead—

23Everything that can go through the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it must be purified with the water for impurity. But everything that cannot go through the fire, you shall pass through the water.

24You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterward you may come into the camp.

25Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

26Take a count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation.

27And divide the plunder between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.

28And you shall levy a tribute for Yahweh from the men of war who went out to battle: one out of five hundred, from the people and from the cattle and from the donkeys and from the flock.

29From their half you shall take it and give it to Eleazar the priest as Yahweh’s contribution.

30And from the half belonging to the sons of Israel you shall take one taken from every fifty, from the man, from the cattle, from the donkeys, and from the flock, from every kind of livestock; and you shall give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.

31So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

32The plunder, the remainder of the spoil that the people of the army had plundered, was 675,000 sheep.

33and 72,000 cattle,

34and 61,000 donkeys.

35And the persons from the women who had not known the bed of a male, all the persons, were thirty-two thousand.

36And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was in number 337,500 sheep.

37And the tribute for Yahweh from the flock was six hundred seventy-five.

38And the cattle were thirty-six thousand, and their tribute for the LORD was seventy-two.

39The donkeys were 30,500, and their tribute to Yahweh was 61.

40And the persons of mankind were sixteen thousand, and their tribute for Yahweh was thirty-two persons.

41And Moses gave the tribute, the contribution for Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

42And from the half belonging to the sons of Israel, which Moses had separated from the men who served in the army—

43And the half belonging to the congregation, from the flock, was 337,500.

44and the cattle, thirty-six thousand.

45and the donkeys, thirty thousand and five hundred.

46and the persons of mankind were sixteen thousand.

47From the half belonging to the sons of Israel, Moses took one portion out of fifty, from the people and from the livestock, and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

48Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses.

49And they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not one man of us is missing.”

50So we have brought near Yahweh’s offering: each man what he found—articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants—to make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh.

51So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, every crafted article.

52And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to Yahweh was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the commanders of the thousands and from the commanders of the hundreds.

53The men of the army had each taken plunder for himself.

54So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and they brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.