Numbers 31
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses/me and said,
Then spake Yahweh unto 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.”
Exact thou the avenging of the sons of Israel, from the Midianites, —and, afterwards, shalt thou be withdrawn unto thy kinsfolk.
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].
So Moses spake unto the people saying, Arm ye from among you men, for the war, and let them go against Midian, to render the avenging of Yahweh upon Midian.
4 Select 1,000 men from each tribe to fight.”
A thousand from each tribe, —of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send forth unto the war.
5 So 12,000 men prepared for fighting in the battle, 1,000 from each tribe.
And there volunteered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of each 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].
And Moses sent them a thousand of each tribe to the war, —them, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary, and the alarm trumpets, 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.
So they made war upon Midian, as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and slew 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.
and the kings of Midian, slew they besides their other slain namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian, —Balaam also, son of Beor, slew they 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.
And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, —all their cattle also and all their flocks and all their substance, carried they off as 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 also in their sites, and all their encampments, burned they up with fire.
11 but they took home with them all the women and children and animals and possessions.
Then took they all the spoil, and all the booty, —both of man and beast;
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.
and brought in unto Moses and unto Eleazar the priest and unto the assembly of the sons of Israel—the captives and the booty, and the spoil unto the camp, —unto the waste plains of Moab, which are by Jordan, near Jericho.
13 Eleazar and all the leaders of the people and Moses/I went outside the camp to greet/meet with them.
And Moses, and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly, went forth to meet them, —unto the 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.
Then was Moses sore displeased with the officers of the force, —the princes of thousands, and the princes of hundreds who were coming in from the warring host.
15 He/I asked them, “Why did you allow the women to live [RHQ]?
And Moses said unto them, —Have ye saved alive every female?
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.
Lo! they, became unto the sons of Israel, by the advice of Balaam, the cause of daring acts of treachery against Yahweh, over the affair of Peor, —and then came the plague against the assembly of Yahweh!
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, slay ye every male among the young, —every woman also that hath cohabited with man, slay ye.
18 Spare only the girls who are virgins [EUP]. You can keep them to be your [wives or your slaves].
But all the young of womankind that have, not cohabited with man, preserve 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.
Ye, then, pitch outside the camp, for seven days, —whosoever hath killed a person and whoever hath touched the slain, cleanse yourselves (from sin) on the third day and on the seventh day ye 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.”
Every garment also, and every article of skin and every thing made of goat’s-hair, and every article of wood, shall ye cleanse (from sin).
21 Then Eleazar said to the soldiers who had returned from the battle, “This is what Yahweh has instructed Moses:
Then said Eleazar the priest unto the men of the host, who had been to the war: This, is the statute of the law, which Yahweh hath 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].
Surely 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.
whatsoever thing can go into fire, ye shall pass through fire and it shall be clean, only with the water of separation, shall ye cleanse it (from sin). But whatsoever cannot go into fire, ye shall pass through 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.”
And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and be clean, —and after-wards, shall ye come into the camp.
25 Yahweh also said to Moses/me,
Then spake Yahweh unto 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].
Reckon thou up the sum of the booty that was captured, both of man and of beast, —thou and Eleazar the priest, and the ancestral heads of the assembly;
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 booty into two parts, between them who took upon them the war, who went out in the host, —and all the [rest of the] assembly.
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.
Then shalt thou levy a tribute unto Yahweh—from the men of war, who went forth in the host, one living thing, out of five hundred, —of the human beings, and of the herd, and of the asses and of the flock:
29 Take these things to Eleazar to (be my share/belong to me).
out of their half, shall ye take [them], —and thou shall give [them] unto Eleazar the priest as a heave-offering unto Yahweh.
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.”
And out of the half allotted to the sons of Israel, shalt thou take one allotted portion out of fifty of the human beings, of the herd, of the asses and of the flock of all the cattle, —and shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the habitation of Yahweh.
31 So Eleazar and Moses/I did what Yahweh commanded.
And Moses and Eleazar the priest did, —As Yahweh 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.
And it came to pass that the booty, over and above the prey which the people of the host had seized, was, —of the flock, six hundred and seventy-five thousand;
and, of the herd, seventy-two thousand;
and, of the asses, sixty-one thousand;
and, of the human persons, even of the woman-kind who had not cohabited with man, —all the persons, thirty-two thousand.
36 The men who fought in the battle took 337,000 sheep [from the battle],
And the half, the share of them who had gone forth in the host, was, —the number of the flock—three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred;
37 and they gave 675 of them to Yahweh.
and so, the tribute unto Yahweh, out of the flock, was—six hundred and seventy-five;
38 They took 36,000 cattle and gave 72 of them to Yahweh.
and the herd, thirty-six thousand, —and the tribute of them unto Yahweh—seventy-two;
39 They took 30,500 donkeys, and they gave 61 of them to Yahweh.
and the asses, thirty thousand and five hundred, —and the tribute of them unto Yahweh, sixty-one;
40 They took 16,000 virgins, and they dedicated 32 of them to Yahweh.
and the human persons, sixteen thousand, —and the tribute of them unto Yahweh, thirty-two persons.
41 Moses/I gave to Eleazar all [the animals] that had been given to Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded.
And Moses gave the tribute—the heave-offering of Yahweh, unto Eleazar the priest, —As Yahweh 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,
And, of the half, allotted unto the sons of Israel, —which Moses halved away from the men who had gone out in the host,
the half allotted unto the assembly, was—of the flock, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, and five hundred;
and, of the herd, six and thirty thousand;
and, of asses, thirty thousand and five hundred;
and, human persons, sixteen thousand.
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.
So then Moses took—out of the half belonging to the sons of Israel the allotted portion one out of fifty, of the human beings and of the beasts, —and gave them unto the Levites, the keepers of the charge of the habitation of Yahweh, As Yahweh commanded Moses.
48 Then the army officers and those who commanded 1,000 men and those who commanded 100 men came to Moses/me.
Then came near unto Moses the officers who belonged unto the thousands of the host, —the princes of thousands and the princes of hundreds;
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 said unto Moses, Thy servants have reckoned up the sum of the men of war who are in our hand, —and there is not missed from among us, a man!
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.”
Therefore have we brought near an offering unto Yahweh, what, each man, hath found—articles of gold, ankle chains and bracelets, rings earrings and buckles, —to put a propitiatory-covering over our souls before Yahweh.
51 So Eleazar and Moses/I accepted the gold items that they brought.
So Moses, and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, —all the wrought articles.
52 The total of it weighed about (420 pounds/190 kg.).
And all the gold of the heave-offering which they offered up unto Yahweh, was—sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, —of the princes of thousands, and of the princes of hundreds.
53 Each soldier had taken these things for himself.
The men of the host, had taken prey, each 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].
So then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the princes of thousands, and hundreds, —and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.
