Numbers 31

1 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shall you be gathered unto your people.

“Punish the Midianites because of what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your forefathers in death.”

3 And Moses spoke unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.

Moses instructed the people, “Have some of your men get ready for battle, so they can go and attack the Midianites and carry out the Lord's punishment on them.

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

You are to contribute one thousand men from each Israelite tribe.”

5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

So one thousand men were chosen from each Israelite tribe, making twelve thousand troops ready for battle.

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.

Moses sent them into battle, one thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest. He carried with him the holy objects from the sanctuary and the trumpets used for giving signals.

7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.

They attacked the Midianites, as the Lord had told Moses to do, and they killed all the men.

8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

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

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

The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children, and they took as plunder all their herds, flocks, and possessions.

10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

They set fire to all the Midianite towns and camps where they had lived,

11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

and carried away all the plunder and loot, including people and animals.

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

They brought the prisoners, loot, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the rest of the Israelites where they were camped on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the Israelite leaders went out of the camp to meet them.

14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who returned from the battle.

15 And Moses said unto them, Have all of you saved all the women alive?

“Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them.

16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

“You realize that these were the women seduced the Israelite men, leading them to be unfaithful to the Lord at Peor, following Balaam's advice! That's why the Lord's people suffered from the plague!

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that has known man by lying with him.

So go and kill all the boys and every woman who has had slept with a man.

18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

Let all the girls who are virgins live. They are yours.

19 And do all of you abide without the camp seven days: whosoever has killed any person, and whosoever has touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

All those of you who killed someone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. Purify yourselves and your prisoners on the third day and the seventh day.

20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.

Also purify all your clothing garment and anything made of leather, goat's hair, or wood.”

21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;

Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone into battle, “These are the legal regulations that the Lord has ordered Moses to be carried out:

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

All that's made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—

23 Every thing that may abide the fire, all of you shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abides not the fire all of you shall make go through the water.

anything that doesn't burn—must be put through fire to make it clean. But it still has to be purified using water of purification. Anything that burns must be put through the water.

24 And all of you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and all of you shall be clean, and afterward all of you shall come into the camp.

Wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean. Then you can enter the camp.”

25 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:

“You, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite family leaders are to take a record of the people and animals that were captured.

27 And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:

Then divide them between the troops who went into battle and the rest of the Israelites.

28 And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:

Take as a contribution to the Lord from what is allocated to the troops who went into battle one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.

29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.

Take this from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.

30 And of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.

From the Israelites; half share, take one out of every fifty people, cattle, donkeys, or sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who take care of the Lord's Tabernacle.”

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had ordered Moses.

32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,

This was the list of plunder remaining that had been looted by the troops: 675,000 sheep,

33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,

72,000 cattle,

34 And threescore and one thousand asses,

61,000 donkeys,

35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.

and 32,000 virgins.

36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:

This was the half share for those who had gone to fight: 337,500 sheep,

37 And the LORD's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.

with a contribution for the Lord of 675,

38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was threescore and twelve.

36,000 cattle, with a Lord's contribution of 72,

39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD's tribute was threescore and one.

30,500 donkeys, with a Lord's contribution of 61,

40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was thirty and two persons.

and 16,000 people, with a Lord's contribution of 32.

41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses gave the contribution to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord as the Lord had ordered Moses.

42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,

The Israelites' half share left after Moses had given the half share to the troops who had gone to fight,

43 (Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,

consisted of: 337,500 sheep,

44 And thirty and six thousand beeves,

36,000 cattle,

45 And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,

30,500 donkeys,

46 And sixteen thousand persons; )

and 16,000 people.

47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses took from the Israelites' half one out of every fifty people and animals and gave them the Levites who take care of the Lord's Tabernacle, as the Lord had ordered him.

48 And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:

The army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came to Moses

49 And they said unto Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us.

and told him, “We, your servants, have checked the troops we command and not a single man is missing.

50 We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man has got, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.

So we have brought the Lord an offering of the gold objects each man received—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—in order that we may be right before the Lord.”

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

Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them all the objects made out of gold.

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

The gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds gave as an offering to the Lord weighed in total 16,750 shekels.

53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)

(The men who had fought in the battle had each 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 tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and took it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial offering for the Israelites in the presence of the Lord.