Numbers 31

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

And the LORD said to Moses,

2 Avenge the children of Israel upon the Midianites; afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy peoples.

“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from amongst you men for military service, that they go against Midian to execute Jehovah's vengeance upon Midian.

So Moses told the people, “Arm some of your men for war, that they may go against the Midianites and execute the LORD’s vengeance on them.

4 Of every tribe a thousand, of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.

Send into battle a thousand men from each tribe of Israel.”

5 And there were levied out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand by tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

So a thousand men were recruited from each tribe of Israel—twelve thousand armed for war.

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand by the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm-trumpets in his hand.

And Moses sent the thousand from each tribe into battle, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took with him the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.

7 And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and slew all the males.

Then they waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8 And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the others slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9 And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took for a spoil all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods;

The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.

10 and all their cities in their settlements and all their encampments they burned with fire.

Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites had lived, as well as all their encampments,

11 And they took all the booty, and all the prey, of man and of cattle;

and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals.

12 and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho.

They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly went forth to meet them outside the camp.

And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.

14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, with the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war;

But Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who were returning from the battle.

15 and Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

“Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.

16 Lo, these, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to commit sin against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague on the assembly of Jehovah.

“Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the LORD at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD.

17 And now slay every male among the little ones, and slay every woman that hath known man by lying with him,

So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,

18 but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.

19 And encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever hath killed a person, and whoever hath touched any slain; ye shall purify yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.

20 And every garment, and every vessel of skin, and all work of goat's hair, and every utensil of wood shall ye purify.

And purify every garment and leather good, everything made of goat’s hair, and every article of wood.”

21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

22 Only the gold, and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

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

23 everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it shall be purified with the water of separation; and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water.

everything that can withstand the fire—must be put through the fire, and it will be clean. But it must still be purified with the water of purification. And everything that cannot withstand the fire must pass through the water.

24 And ye shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterwards ye may come into the camp.

On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”

25 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

The LORD said to Moses,

26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, of man and of cattle, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the assembly;

“You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the congregation are to take a count of what was captured, both of man and beast.

27 and divide the prey into halves, between them that conducted the war, who went out to the battle, and the whole assembly.

Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to battle and the rest of the congregation.

28 And thou shalt levy a tribute for Jehovah of the men of war who went out to the army, one soul of five hundred of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the asses, and of the small cattle.

Set aside a tribute for the LORD from what belongs to the soldiers who went into battle: one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.

29 Of their half shall ye take it, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for a heave-offering of Jehovah.

Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the LORD.

30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the small cattle, of every [kind of] beasts, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.

From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.”

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses,

32 And the prey, the rest of the spoil, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,

33 and seventy-two thousand oxen,

72,000 cattle,

34 and sixty-one thousand asses,

61,000 donkeys,

35 and of human persons, of the women that had not known lying with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.

and 32,000 women who had not slept with a man.

36 And the half, the portion of them that had gone out to the war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

This was the half portion for those who had gone to war: 337,500 sheep,

37 and the tribute for Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five;

including a tribute to the LORD of 675,

38 and the oxen were thirty-six thousand, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, seventy-two;

36,000 cattle, including a tribute to the LORD of 72,

39 and the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, sixty-one;

30,500 donkeys, including a tribute to the LORD of 61,

40 and the human persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the tribute for Jehovah was thirty-two persons.

and 16,000 people, including a tribute to the LORD of 32.

41 And Moses gave the tribute of Jehovah's heave-offering to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as an offering for the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had divided, [taking it] from the men that served in the war,

From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had set apart from the men who had gone to war,

43 (now the half belonging to the assembly was of the sheep, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred,

this half belonged to the congregation: 337,500 sheep,

44 and thirty-six thousand oxen,

36,000 cattle,

45 and thirty thousand five hundred asses,

30,500 donkeys,

46 and sixteen thousand human persons, )

and 16,000 people.

47 ...of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, of man and of cattle, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.

48 And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses,

Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and of hundreds—approached Moses

49 and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who were under our hand, and there is not one man of us lacking.

and said, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.

50 So we present the offering of Jehovah, that which each one hath found, jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah.

So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, all manner of wrought jewels.

So Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them all the articles made out of gold.

52 And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered to Jehovah was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.

All the gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds presented as an offering to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.

53 (The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself.)

Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar 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 Israelites before the LORD.