Numbers 31

1 Then the Lord said to Moses,

And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

2 Give the Midianites punishment for the wrong they did to the children of Israel: and after that you will go to rest with your people.

“Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites—afterward you are gathered to your people.”

3 So Moses said to the people, Let men from among you be armed for war to put into effect against Midian the Lord's punishment on them.

And Moses speaks to the people, saying, “Arm men from [among] you for the war, and they are against Midian, to put the vengeance of YHWH on Midian;

4 From every tribe of Israel send a thousand to the war.

one thousand for a tribe—you send one thousand for a tribe, of all the tribes of Israel, to the war.”

5 So from the thousands of Israel a thousand were taken from every tribe, twelve thousand men armed for war.

And there are given out of the thousands of Israel one thousand for a tribe—twelve thousand armed ones [for] war;

6 And Moses sent them out to war, a thousand from every tribe, and with them Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, taking in his hands the vessels of the holy place and the horns for sounding the note of war.

and Moses sends them, one thousand for a tribe, to the war; [he sent] them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the war, with the holy vessels and the trumpets of shouting in his hand.

7 And they made war on Midian, as the Lord gave orders to Moses; and they put to death every male.

And they war against Midian, as YHWH has commanded Moses, and slay every male;

8 They put the kings of Midian to death with the rest, Evi and Reken and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian: and Balaam, the son of Beor, they put to death with the sword.

and they have slain the kings of Midian besides their pierced ones: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba—five kings of Midian; and they have slain Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9 The women of Midian with their little ones the children of Israel took prisoner; and all their cattle and flocks and all their goods they took for themselves;

And the sons of Israel take the women of Midian and their infants captive; and they have plundered all their livestock, and all their substance, and all their wealth;

10 And after burning all their towns and all their tent-circles,

and they have burned all their cities, with their habitations, and all their towers, with fire.

11 They went away with the goods they had taken, man and beast.

And they take all the spoil and all the prey, among man and among beast;

12 And the prisoners and the goods and everything they had taken, they took to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the people of Israel, to the tent-circle in the lowlands of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

and they bring in the captives, and the prey, and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp, to the plains of Moab, which [are] by the Jordan, [near] Jericho.

13 Then Moses and Eleazar the priest and the chiefs of the people went out to them before they had come into the tent-circle.

And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, go out to meet them, to the outside of the camp,

14 And Moses was angry with the chiefs of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds who had come back from the war.

and Moses is angry against the inspectors of the force, chiefs of the thousands, and chiefs of the hundreds, who are coming in from the warfare of battle.

15 And Moses said to them, Why have you kept all the women safe?

And Moses says to them, “Have you kept every female alive?

16 It was these who, moved by Balaam, were the cause of Israel's sin against the Lord in the question of Peor, because of which disease came on the people of the Lord.

Behold, they have been to the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to cause a trespass against YHWH in the matter of Peor, and the plague is in the congregation of YHWH.

17 So now put every male child to death, and every woman who has had sex relations with a man.

And now, slay every male among the infants, indeed, slay every woman knowing a man by the lying of a male;

18 But all the female children who have had no sex relations with men, you may keep for yourselves.

and all the infants among the women who have not known the lying of a male you have kept alive for yourselves.

19 You yourselves will have to keep outside the tent-circle for seven days, anyone of you who has put any person to death or come near a dead body; and on the third day and on the seventh day make yourselves and your prisoners clean.

And you, encamp at the outside of the camp [for] seven days; any who has slain a person, and any who has come against a pierced one, cleanse yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day—you and your captives;

20 And every bit of clothing, and anything made of leather or goats' hair or wood, you are to make clean.

and every garment, and every skin vessel, and every work of goats’ [hair], and every wooden vessel, you yourselves cleanse.”

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had been to the fight, This is the rule of the law which the Lord has given to Moses:

And Eleazar the priest says to the men of war who go to battle, “This [is] the statute of the law which YHWH has commanded Moses:

22 But gold and silver and brass and iron and tin and lead,

only the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23 And anything which may be heated, is to go through the fire and be made clean; but in addition it is to be put in the water of cleaning: and anything which may not go through the fire is to be put in the water.

everything which may go into fire, you cause to pass over through fire, and it has been clean; it is surely cleansed with the water of separation; and all that may not go into fire, you cause to pass over through water;

24 And on the seventh day, after washing your clothing, you will be clean, and then you may come into the tent-circle.

and you have washed your garments on the seventh day and have been clean, and afterward you come into the camp.”

25 And the Lord said to Moses,

And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

26 Get an account of everything which was taken in the war, of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of families of the people:

“Take up the sum of the prey of the captives, among man and among beast, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation;

27 And let division be made of it into two parts, one for the men of war who went out to the fight, and one for all the people:

and you have halved the prey between those handling the battle, who go out to the war, and all the congregation;

28 And from the men of war who went out let there be offered to the Lord one out of every five hundred, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep:

and you have raised a tribute to YHWH from the men of battle, who go out to the war, one body out of five hundred, of man, and of the herd, and of the donkeys, and of the flock;

29 Take this from their part and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to be lifted up to the Lord.

you take from their half and have given [it] to Eleazar the priest [as] a raised-offering of YHWH.

30 And from the part given to the children of Israel, take one out of every fifty, from the persons, and from the oxen and asses and sheep, and give it to the Levites who have the care of the House of the Lord.

And from the sons of Israel’s half you take one possession out of fifty, of man, of the herd, of the donkeys, and of the flock, of all the livestock, and you have given them to the Levites keeping the charge of the Dwelling Place of YHWH.”

31 So Eleazar and Moses did as the Lord had given orders to Moses.

And Moses does—Eleazar the priest also—as YHWH has commanded Moses.

32 Now the beasts taken, in addition to what the fighting-men took for themselves, were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

And the prey, the remainder of the spoil which the people of the host have spoiled, is six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand of the flock;

33 And seventy-two thousand oxen,

and seventy-two thousand of the herd;

34 And sixty-one thousand asses;

and sixty-one thousand donkeys;

35 And thirty-two thousand persons, that is, women who had never had sex relations with a man.

and of mankind—of the women who have not known the lying of a male—all the persons [are] thirty-two thousand.

36 And the half given as their part to the men who went to the war, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep,

And the half, the portion of those who go out into the war, is [in] number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred of the flock.

37 Of which the Lord's part was six hundred and seventy-five.

And the tribute to YHWH of the sheep is six hundred seventy-five;

38 The number of oxen was thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord's part was seventy-two;

and the herd [is] thirty-six thousand, and their tribute to YHWH [is] seventy-two;

39 The number of asses was thirty thousand, five hundred, of which the Lord's part was sixty-one.

and the donkeys [are] thirty thousand and five hundred, and their tribute to YHWH [is] sixty-one;

40 And the number of persons was sixteen thousand, of which the Lord's part was thirty-two persons.

and of mankind [are] sixteen thousand, and their tribute to YHWH [is] thirty-two persons.

41 And Moses gave the Lord's part, lifted up as an offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had given orders to Moses.

And Moses gives the tribute—YHWH’s raised-offering—to Eleazar the priest, as YHWH has commanded Moses.

42 And from the half given to the children of Israel, which Moses had kept separate from that given to the fighting-men,

And of the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses halved from the men who war—

43 (Now the people's half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, five hundred sheep,

and the congregation’s half is three hundred thousand and thirty thousand [and] seven thousand and five hundred of the flock;

44 And thirty-six thousand oxen,

and thirty-six thousand of the herd;

45 And thirty thousand, five hundred asses,

and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys;

46 And sixteen thousand persons; )

and sixteen thousand of mankind—

47 Even from the children of Israel's half, Moses took one out of every fifty, men and beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had the care of the House of the Lord; as the Lord gave orders to Moses.

Moses takes from the sons of Israel’s half one possession from the fifty, of man and of beast, and gives them to the Levites keeping the charge of the Dwelling Place of YHWH, as YHWH has commanded Moses.

48 Then the men in authority over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came to Moses,

And the inspectors whom the thousands of the host have (heads of the thousands and heads of the hundreds), draw near to Moses,

49 And said to him, Your servants have taken note of the number of all the fighting-men under our orders, and every one is present;

and they say to Moses, “Your servants have taken up the sum of the men of war who [are] with us, and not a man of us has been missed;

50 And we have here an offering for the Lord from what every man took in the war, ornaments of gold, leg-chains and arm-rings, finger-rings, ear-rings, and neck-ornaments, to make our souls free from sin before the Lord.

and we bring YHWH’s offering near, each of that which he has found of vessels of gold—chain, and bracelet, seal-ring, [ear]-ring, and bead—to make atonement for ourselves before YHWH.”

51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, even all the worked ornaments.

And Moses receives—Eleazar the priest also—the gold from them, every vessel of workmanship;

52 And the gold which the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds gave, as an offering to be lifted up before the Lord, came to sixteen thousand, seven hundred and fifty shekels.

and all the gold of the raised-offering which they have lifted up to YHWH is sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from heads of the thousands and from heads of the hundreds;

53 (For every man of the army had taken goods for himself in the war.)

(the men of the host have each taken spoil for himself);

54 Then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold given by the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, and took it into the Tent of meeting, to be a sign in memory of the children of Israel before the Lord.

and Moses takes—Eleazar the priest also—the gold from the heads of the thousands and of the hundreds, and they bring it into the Tent of Meeting [as] a memorial for the sons of Israel before YHWH.