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Division of the Loot

25 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the loot [a]that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and (A)divide the loot between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 (B)And you shall exact a levy for Yahweh from the men of war who went out to battle, one [b]in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29 take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as a [c]contribution to Yahweh. 30 And from the sons 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 sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who (C)keep charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.” 31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

32 Now the loot that remained from the plunder which the [d]men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33 and 72,000 cattle, 34 and 61,000 donkeys, 35 and of human beings, of the women who had not known man [e]intimately, all the persons were 32,000.

36 And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500; 37 and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675; 38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72; 39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61; 40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons. 41 And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just (D)as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses [f]separated from the men who had gone to war— 43 now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44 and 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and the human beings were 16,000— 47 and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 31:26 Lit of captives
  2. Numbers 31:28 Lit soul from
  3. Numbers 31:29 Lit heave offering, so in ch
  4. Numbers 31:32 Lit people
  5. Numbers 31:35 Lit by lying with a man
  6. Numbers 31:42 Or divided

Dividing the Spoils

25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads(A) of the community are to count all the people(B) and animals that were captured.(C) 27 Divide(D) the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord(E) one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. 29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part. 30 From 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.(F) 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 The plunder remaining from the spoils(G) that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys 35 and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.

36 The half share of those who fought in the battle was:

337,500 sheep, 37 of which the tribute for the Lord(H) was 675;

38 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord was 72;

39 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord was 61;

40 16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the Lord was 32.

41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part,(I) as the Lord commanded Moses.(J)

42 The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men— 43 the community’s half—was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys 46 and 16,000 people. 47 From 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.

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