Numbers 31
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses/me and said,
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 “Before you die, [tell the] Israeli people that they should (pay back/get revenge on) the Midian people-group for what they did to you.”
"Avenge the children of Israel for the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people."
3 So Moses/I said to the people, “Get some men prepared for battle. Yahweh will enable them to (pay back/get revenge on) the Midian people-group [for what they did to us].
Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD's vengeance on Midian.
4 Select 1,000 men from each tribe to fight.”
Of every tribe one thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the war."
5 So 12,000 men prepared for fighting in the battle, 1,000 from each tribe.
So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6 When Moses/I sent them to the battle, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, went with them. He took with him some of the things from the Sacred Tent and the trumpets that would be blown to give the signal [to start the battle].
Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
7 The Israeli men fought the soldiers from the Midian people-group, as Yahweh had told Moses/me to tell them to do, and they killed every man from the Midian people-group.
They warred against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they killed every male.
8 Among those whom they killed were the five kings of the Midian people-group—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed with a sword Balaam, the son of Beor.
They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword.
9 They captured all the women and children of the Midian people-group and took away their cattle, their flocks of sheep, and herds of goats, and all their other possessions.
The children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey.
10 Then they burned down all the houses in the towns and villages where the people of the Midian people-group lived,
All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire.
11 but they took home with them all the women and children and animals and possessions.
They took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of animal.
12 They brought all these to Eliezer and Moses/me, and to the rest of the Israeli people who were at their/our camp on the plains where the Moab people-group lived, near the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
They brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.
13 Eleazar and all the leaders of the people and Moses/I went outside the camp to greet/meet with them.
Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside of the camp.
14 But Moses/I was angry with some of the men who had returned from the battle. He/I was angry with the army officers and the men who were commanders of 1,000 men and those who were commanders of 100 men.
Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war.
15 He/I asked them, “Why did you allow the women to live [RHQ]?
Moses said to them, "Have you saved all the women alive?
16 They are the ones who did what Balaam suggested and urged/persuaded our people to worship Baal [instead of Yahweh]. As a result, Yahweh caused a plague to strike his people while they were at Peor.
Look, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.
17 So, now you must kill all the boys of the Midian people-group, and also kill all the women who have had sex [EUP] with any man.
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.
18 Spare only the girls who are virgins [EUP]. You can keep them to be your [wives or your slaves].
But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 All of you who have killed someone or touched the corpse of someone who was killed [in the battle] must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and on the seventh day, you must [perform the ritual to] cause you and those whom you have captured to become acceptable to God again.
"Encamp outside of the camp seven days: whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.
20 You must also wash your clothes and anything [that you took to the battle] that is made of leather or goat’s hair or wood.”
As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify yourselves."
21 Then Eleazar said to the soldiers who had returned from the battle, “This is what Yahweh has instructed Moses:
Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, "This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:
22 You must put into a fire any gold or silver or bronze or iron or tin or lead things [that you brought back from the battle].
however the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
23 Put everything that will not burn into the fire, and then they will be acceptable for you to use. But also sprinkle those things with the water that causes things and people to become acceptable to God. The things that would burn [if you put them] in a fire, sprinkle them with that water.
everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that doesn't withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water.
24 On the seventh day, wash your clothes, and then you will become acceptable to God again. After you do that, you may return to the camp.”
You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp."
25 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26 “Tell Eleazar and the leaders of the family groups that they must write down a list of all the goods, the women, and the animals that were captured [in the battle].
"Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation;
27 Then they must divide all those things, half given to the men who fought in the battle and the other half given to the rest of the people.
and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.
28 From the men who fought in the battle, take one from every 500 people and from every 500 cattle and donkeys and sheep, to be a tax for me.
Levy a tribute to the LORD of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.
29 Take these things to Eleazar to (be my share/belong to me).
Take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the LORD's wave offering.
30 And from the half that belongs to the ordinary people, take one item from every 50. That includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other animals. Give those things to the descendants of Levi who take care of my Sacred Tent.”
Of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the tabernacle of the LORD."
31 So Eleazar and Moses/I did what Yahweh commanded.
Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32 There were 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 virgins that they had captured from the Midian people-group.
Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,
and seventy-two thousand head of cattle,
and sixty-one thousand donkeys,
and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him.
36 The men who fought in the battle took 337,000 sheep [from the battle],
The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:
37 and they gave 675 of them to Yahweh.
and the LORD's tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.
38 They took 36,000 cattle and gave 72 of them to Yahweh.
The cattle were thirty-six thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was seventy-two.
39 They took 30,500 donkeys, and they gave 61 of them to Yahweh.
The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred; of which the LORD's tribute was sixty-one.
40 They took 16,000 virgins, and they dedicated 32 of them to Yahweh.
The persons were sixteen thousand; of whom the LORD's tribute was thirty-two persons.
41 Moses/I gave to Eleazar all [the animals] that had been given to Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded.
Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD's wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42 Moses/I separated what those who had fought in the battle received from what the other people received. The people had taken 337,500 sheep, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 virgins,
Of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred
(now the congregation's half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
and thirty-six thousand head of cattle,
and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
and sixteen thousand persons),
47 From what the people received, Moses/I took one from every 50 items and dedicated them to Yahweh. That included animals and people. As Yahweh commanded, he/I gave them all to the descendants of Levi who took care of the Sacred Tent.
even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.
48 Then the army officers and those who commanded 1,000 men and those who commanded 100 men came to Moses/me.
The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses;
49 They said, “We, who are your servants, have counted the soldiers whom we command, and [we found that] none of them (is missing/has been killed).
and they said to Moses, "Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us.
50 So [to thank Yahweh for that], we have brought to him a gift of the gold items that we found [after the battle]: Gold arm bands and bracelets and rings and earrings and necklaces. This will enable us to be forgiven for our sins.”
We have brought the LORD's offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD."
51 So Eleazar and Moses/I accepted the gold items that they brought.
Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels.
52 The total of it weighed about (420 pounds/190 kg.).
All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.
53 Each soldier had taken these things for himself.
(The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.)
54 Eleazar and Moses/I accepted these gold items from these commanders and put them in the Sacred Tent to remind the Israeli people about how Yahweh [had helped them defeat the Midian people-group].
Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.
