Numbers 31
31
1And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people. 3And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm ye men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD'S vengeance on Midian. 4Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. 5So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6And Moses sent them, a 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.
7And they warred against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew every male. 8And they slew 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 slew with the sword. 9And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. 10And all their cities in the places wherein they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. 11And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.
13And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp. 14And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, which came from the service of the war. 15And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16Behold, 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. 17Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. 18But all the women children, that have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19And encamp ye without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, ye and your captives. 20And as to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, ye shall purify yourselves. 21And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which the LORD hath commanded Moses: 22howbeit the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make to go through the water. 24And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.
25And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 26Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation: 27and divide the prey into two parts; between the men skilled in war, that went out to battle, and all the congregation: 28and levy a tribute unto the LORD of the men of war that went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the flocks: 29take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for the LORD'S heave offering. 30And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, even of all the cattle, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD. 31And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 32Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, 33and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, 34and threescore and one thousand asses, 35and thirty and two thousand persons in all, of the women that had not known man by lying with him. 36And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep: 37and the LORD'S tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. 38And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and twelve. 39And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD'S tribute was threescore and one. 40And the persons were sixteen thousand; of whom the LORD'S tribute was thirty and two persons. 41And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD'S heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses. 42And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men that warred, 43(now the congregation's half was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand, seven thousand and five hundred sheep, 44and thirty and six thousand beeves, 45and thirty thousand and five hundred asses, 46and sixteen thousand persons;) 47even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every 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.
48And the officers which were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: 49and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. 50And we have brought the LORD'S oblation, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ankle chains, and bracelets, signet-rings, earrings, and armlets, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD. 51And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. 52And all the gold of the heave 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. 53(For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) 54And 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.
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Numbers 31: RV1885
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Numbers 31
31
Vengeance on the Midianites
1The Lord said to Moses, 2‘Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.’
3So Moses said to the people, ‘Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance on them. 4Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.’ 5So twelve thousand men armed for battle, a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. 6Moses sent them into battle, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary and the trumpets for signalling.
7They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. 8Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba – the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. 9The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder. 10They burned all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps. 11They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals, 12and brought the captives, spoils and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
13Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14Moses was angry with the officers of the army – the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds – who returned from the battle.
15‘Have you allowed all the women to live?’ he asked them. 16‘They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident, so that a plague struck the Lord’s people. 17Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, 18but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.
19‘Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed must stay outside the camp seven days. On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves and your captives. 20Purify every garment as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.’
21Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, ‘This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: 22gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead 23and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. 24On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.’
Dividing the spoils
25The Lord said to Moses, 26‘You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community are to count all the people and animals that were captured. 27Divide the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. 29Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part. 30From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.’ 31So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32The plunder remaining from the spoils that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 3372,000 cattle, 3461,000 donkeys 35and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.
36The half share of those who fought in the battle was:
337,500 sheep, 37of which the tribute for the Lord was 675;
3836,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord was 72;
3930,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord was 61;
4016,000 people, of whom the tribute for the Lord was 32.
41Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men – 43the community’s half – was 337,500 sheep, 4436,000 cattle, 4530,500 donkeys 46and 16,000 people. 47From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the Lord commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.
48Then the officers who were over the units of the army – the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds – went to Moses 49and said to him, ‘Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing. 50So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired – armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces – to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.’
51Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold – all the handcrafted articles. 52All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed 16,750 shekels.#31:52 That is, about 190 kilograms 53Each soldier had taken plunder for himself. 54Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
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