Numbers 31
Legacy Standard Bible
Vengeance on Midian
31 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “(A)Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be (B)gathered to your people.” 3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may [a]go against Midian to execute (C)Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian. 4 One thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5 So there were [b]furnished from the thousands of Israel, one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 And Moses sent them, one thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, (D)and the holy vessels and (E)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 So they made war against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and (F)they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: (G)Evi and Rekem and (H)Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed (I)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 And the sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10 Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11 (J)And they took all the spoil and all the loot, both of man and of beast. 12 And they brought the captives and the loot and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 So Moses said to them, “Have you [c]spared (K)all the women? 16 (L)Behold, these [d]caused the sons of Israel, through the word of (M)Balaam, to [e]act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 17 (N)So now, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man [f]intimately. 18 But all the [g]girls who have not known man [h]intimately, [i]spare for yourselves. 19 (O)And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20 And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of [j]leather and all the work of goats’ hair and all articles of wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold and 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, but it shall be purified with (P)water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24 And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”
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 [k]that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and (Q)divide the loot between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 (R)And you shall exact a levy for Yahweh from the men of war who went out to battle, one [l]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 [m]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 (S)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 [n]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 [o]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 (T)as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses [p]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.
48 Then 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 they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50 So we have brought near as an offering to Yahweh what each man found—articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—(U)to make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh.” 51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of crafted articles. 52 And all the gold from the contribution offering which they raised up in offering to Yahweh, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 [q]shekels. 53 (V)The men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of meeting as (W)a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.
Footnotes
- Numbers 31:3 Lit be
- Numbers 31:5 Lit delivered
- Numbers 31:15 Lit let...live
- Numbers 31:16 Lit were to
- Numbers 31:16 Or possibly defect from Yahweh
- Numbers 31:17 Lit by lying with a man
- Numbers 31:18 Lit female children
- Numbers 31:18 Lit by lying with a man
- Numbers 31:18 Lit keep alive
- Numbers 31:20 Or skin
- Numbers 31:26 Lit of captives
- Numbers 31:28 Lit soul from
- Numbers 31:29 Lit heave offering, so in ch
- Numbers 31:32 Lit people
- Numbers 31:35 Lit by lying with a man
- Numbers 31:42 Or divided
- Numbers 31:52 A shekel was approx. 0.4 oz. or 11 gm
Numbers 31
New Living Translation
Conquest of the Midianites
31 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “On behalf of the people of Israel, take revenge on the Midianites for leading them into idolatry. After that, you will die and join your ancestors.”
3 So Moses said to the people, “Choose some men, and arm them to fight the Lord’s war of revenge against Midian. 4 From each tribe of Israel, send 1,000 men into battle.” 5 So they chose 1,000 men from each tribe of Israel, a total of 12,000 men armed for battle. 6 Then Moses sent them out, 1,000 men from each tribe, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest led them into battle. They carried along the holy objects of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the charge. 7 They attacked Midian as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed all the men. 8 All five of the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
9 Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. 10 They burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. 11 After they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, 12 they brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, 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 was furious with all the generals and captains[a] who had returned from the battle.
15 “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded. 16 “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the Lord’s people. 17 So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. 18 Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves. 19 And all of you who have killed anyone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must purify yourselves and your captives on the third and seventh days. 20 Purify all your clothing, too, and everything made of leather, goat hair, or wood.”
21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men who were in the battle, “The Lord has given Moses this legal requirement: 22 Anything made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— 23 that is, all metals that do not burn—must be passed through fire in order to be made ceremonially pure. These metal objects must then be further purified with the water of purification. But everything that burns must be purified by the water alone. 24 On the seventh day you must wash your clothes and be purified. Then you may return to the camp.”
Division of the Plunder
25 And the Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family leaders of each tribe are to make a list of all the plunder taken in the battle, including the people and animals. 27 Then divide the plunder into two parts, and give half to the men who fought the battle and half to the rest of the people. 28 From the army’s portion, first give the Lord his share of the plunder—one of every 500 of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. 29 Give this share of the army’s half to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. 30 From the half that belongs to the people of Israel, take one of every fifty of the prisoners and of the cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and other animals. Give this share to the Levites, who are in charge of maintaining the Lord’s Tabernacle.” 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 The plunder remaining from everything the fighting men had taken totaled 675,000 sheep and goats, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 virgin girls.
36 Half of the plunder was given to the fighting men. It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 37 of which 675 were the Lord’s share; 38 36,000 cattle, of which 72 were the Lord’s share; 39 30,500 donkeys, of which 61 were the Lord’s share; 40 and 16,000 virgin girls, of whom 32 were the Lord’s share. 41 Moses gave all the Lord’s share to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had directed him.
42 Half of the plunder belonged to the people of Israel, and Moses separated it from the half belonging to the fighting men. 43 It totaled 337,500 sheep and goats, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 virgin girls. 47 From the half-share given to the people, Moses took one of every fifty prisoners and animals and gave them to the Levites, who maintained the Lord’s Tabernacle. All this was done as the Lord had commanded Moses.
48 Then all the generals and captains came to Moses 49 and said, “We, your servants, have accounted for all the men who went out to battle under our command; not one of us is missing! 50 So we are presenting the items of gold we captured as an offering to the Lord from our share of the plunder—armbands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This will purify our lives before the Lord and make us right with him.[b]”
51 So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from all the military commanders—all kinds of jewelry and crafted objects. 52 In all, the gold that the generals and captains presented as a gift to the Lord weighed about 420 pounds.[c] 53 All the fighting men had taken some of the plunder for themselves. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gifts from the generals and captains and brought the gold to the Tabernacle[d] as a reminder to the Lord that the people of Israel belong to him.
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