Numbers 31

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

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

Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

3 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;

And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.

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

Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.

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

And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.

6 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.

And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

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

And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.

8 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.

And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beer they killed with the sword.

9 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;

And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:

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

And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.

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

And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.

12 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.

And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.

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

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

14 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.

And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,

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

Said: Why have you saved the women?

16 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.

Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished?

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

Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men.

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

But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

19 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;

And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day.

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

And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified.

21 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:

Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses:

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

Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin,

23 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;

And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation:

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

And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.

25 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses:

26 “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;

Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude:

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

And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude.

28 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;

And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep.

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

And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

30 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.”

Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.

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

And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.

32 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;

And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

33 and seventy-two thousand of the herd;

Seventy-two thousand oxen,

34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys;

Sixty-one thousand asses:

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

And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.

36 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.

And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

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

Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep.

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

And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:

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

Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:

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

Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.

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

And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,

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

Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.

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

But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

44 and thirty-six thousand of the herd;

And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,

45 and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys;

And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,

46 and sixteen thousand of mankind—

And out of the sixteen thousand persons,

47 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.

Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

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

And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:

49 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;

We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting.

50 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.”

Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.

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

And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,

52 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;

In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.

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

For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.

54 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.

And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.