Numbers 31

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 “Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites—afterward you are gathered to 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 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;

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 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;

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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, go out to meet them, to the outside of the camp,

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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;

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

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

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 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 bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

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

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;

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

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

25 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

The Lord told 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;

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

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

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

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;

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

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

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

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

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;

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

33 and seventy-two thousand of the herd;

72,000 cattle,

34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys;

61,000 donkeys,

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

and 32,000 virgins.

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.

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

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

with a contribution for the Lord of 675,

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

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

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

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

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

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

41 And Moses gives the tribute—YHWH’s raised-offering—to Eleazar the priest, as YHWH has 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 sons of Israel’s half, which Moses halved from the men who war—

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

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

consisted of: 337,500 sheep,

44 and thirty-six thousand of the herd;

36,000 cattle,

45 and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys;

30,500 donkeys,

46 and sixteen thousand of mankind—

and 16,000 people.

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

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

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;

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

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.”

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

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

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;

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

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

(The men who had fought in the battle had each taken plunder for himself.)

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.

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.