Numbers 31
English Standard Version
Vengeance on Midian
31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 (A)“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall (B)be gathered to your people.” 3 So 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 You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” 5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand (C)armed for war. 6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and (D)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and (E)killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, (F)Evi, Rekem, (G)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed (H)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. 10 All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their (I)encampments, they burned with fire, 11 (J)and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. 12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on (K)the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.
13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was angry with (L)the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 Moses said to them, “Have you (M)let all the women live? 16 Behold, (N)these, (O)on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of (P)Peor, and so (Q)the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. 17 Now therefore, (R)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. 18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him (S)keep alive for yourselves. 19 (T)Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and (U)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified (V)with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. 24 You must (W)wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”
25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, 27 and (X)divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, (Y)one out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. 29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. 30 And from the people of Israel's half you shall take (Z)one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites (AA)who keep guard over the tabernacle of the Lord.” 31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. 36 And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, 37 and (AB)the Lord's tribute of sheep was 675. 38 The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72. 39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61. 40 The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32 persons. 41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, (AC)as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army— 43 now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 persons— 47 (AD)from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
48 Then (AE)the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses 49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. 50 And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, (AF)to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” 51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all crafted articles. 52 And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.[a] 53 (AG)(The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.) 54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, (AH)as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.
Footnotes
- Numbers 31:52 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
Numbers 31
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.”(A)
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(B) on them. 4 Send one thousand men to war from each Israelite tribe.” 5 So one thousand were recruited from each Israelite tribe out of the thousands[a] in Israel—twelve thousand equipped for war. 6 Moses sent one thousand 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.(C) 8 Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian.(D) They also killed Balaam son of Beor(E) with the sword. 9 The Israelites took the Midianite women and their dependents captive, and they plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property.(F) 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 people and animals. 12 They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
13 Moses, the priest Eleazar, 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 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.(G) 17 So now, kill every male among the dependents and kill every woman who has gone to bed with a man,(H) 18 but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not gone to bed with a man.(I)
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.(J) 20 Also purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made of goat hair, and every article of wood.”(K)
21 Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the legal statute the Lord commanded Moses: 22 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.(L) Anything that cannot withstand fire, pass through the water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean.(M) After that you may enter the camp.”
25 The Lord told Moses, 26 “You, the priest Eleazar, and the family heads of the community are to take a count of what was captured, people and animals. 27 Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to war and the entire community.(N) 28 Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. 29 Take the tribute from their half and give it to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the Lord. 30 From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of[b] the Lord’s tabernacle.”
31 So Moses and the priest Eleazar 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 gone to bed 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 the priest Eleazar 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 fifty, 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.”(O)
51 Moses and the priest Eleazar 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.[c] 53 Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.(P) 54 Moses and the priest Eleazar 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.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.