Numbers 31
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
31 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.
3 And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.
4 Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.
5 And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.
6 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 when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.
8 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 they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:
10 And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.
11 And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.
12 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 synagogue went forth to meet them without the camp.
14 And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,
15 Said: Why have you saved the women?
16 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 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 But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:
19 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 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 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 Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin,
23 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 shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.
25 And the Lord said to Moses:
26 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 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 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 And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.
30 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 and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.
32 And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,
33 Seventy-two thousand oxen,
34 Sixty-one thousand asses:
35 And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.
36 And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:
37 Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep.
38 And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:
39 Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:
40 Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.
41 And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,
42 Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.
43 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 out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,
45 And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,
46 And out of the sixteen thousand persons,
47 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 when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:
49 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 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 and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,
52 In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.
53 For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.
54 And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.
Numbers 31
Holman Christian Standard Bible
War with Midian
31 The Lord spoke to Moses, 2 “Execute vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
3 So Moses spoke to the people, “Equip some of your men for war. They will go against Midian to inflict the Lord’s vengeance(A) on them. 4 Send 1,000 men to war from each Israelite tribe.” 5 So 1,000 were recruited from each Israelite tribe out of the thousands[a] in Israel—12,000 equipped for war. 6 Moses sent 1,000 from each tribe to war. They went with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, in whose care were the holy objects and signal trumpets.
7 They waged war against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8 Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian.(B) They also killed Balaam son of Beor(C) with the sword. 9 The Israelites took the Midianite women and their children captive, and they plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property.(D) 10 Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites lived, as well as all their encampments, 11 and took away all the spoils of war and the captives, both man and beast. 12 They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 But Moses became furious with the officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. 15 “Have[b] you let every female live?” he asked them. 16 “Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam’s advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the Lord in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the Lord’s community.(E) 17 So now, kill all the male children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man, 18 but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not had sexual relations.
19 “You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day. 20 Also purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made of goat hair, and every article of wood.”(F)
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the legal statute the Lord commanded Moses: 22 Only the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— 23 everything that can withstand fire—you are to pass through fire, and it will be clean. It must still be purified with the purification water.(G) Anything that cannot withstand fire, pass through the water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”
25 The Lord told Moses, 26 “You, Eleazar the priest, and the family leaders of the community are to take a count of what was captured, man and beast. 27 Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to war and the entire community. 28 Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every 500 humans, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. 29 Take the tribute from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. 30 From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every 50 from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of[c] the Lord’s tabernacle.”
31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. 32 The captives remaining from the plunder the army had taken totaled:
675,000 sheep and goats,
33 72,000 cattle,
34 61,000 donkeys,
35 and 32,000 people, all the females who had not had sexual relations with a man.
36 The half portion for those who went out to war numbered:
337,500 sheep and goats,
37 and the tribute to the Lord was 675
from the sheep and goats;
38 from the 36,000 cattle,
the tribute to the Lord was 72;
39 from the 30,500 donkeys,
the tribute to the Lord was 61;
40 and from the 16,000 people,
the tribute to the Lord was 32 people.
41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as a contribution for the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 From the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from the men who fought, 43 the community’s half was:
337,500 sheep and goats,
44 36,000 cattle,
45 30,500 donkeys,
46 and 16,000 people.
47 Moses took one out of every 50, selected from the people and the livestock of the Israelites’ half. He gave them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded him.
48 The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, approached Moses 49 and told him, “Your servants have taken a census of the fighting men under our command, and not one of us is missing. 50 So we have presented to the Lord an offering of the gold articles each man found—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”(H)
51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them all the articles made out of gold. 52 All the gold of the contribution they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, was 420 pounds.[d] 53 Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself. 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
Footnotes
- Numbers 31:5 Or clans
- Numbers 31:15 Sam, LXX, Syr, Vg read Why have
- Numbers 31:30 Or who protect
- Numbers 31:52 Lit 16,750 shekels
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