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 Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
War against Midian
31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”(A) 3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your number for the war, so 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 out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle. 6 Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,[a] with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.(B) 7 They did battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them, and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.(C) 9 The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive, and they plundered all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. 10 All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned, 11 but they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals.(D) 12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
Return from the War
13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses became 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 Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? 16 These women here, on Balaam’s advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.(E) 17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.(F) 18 But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves. 19 Camp outside the camp seven days, whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse; purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third and on the seventh day. 20 You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”
21 Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: 22 gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— 23 everything that can withstand fire, you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for purification, and whatever cannot withstand fire, you shall pass through the water.(G) 24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterward you may come into the camp.”(H)
Disposition of Captives and Plunder
25 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation make an inventory of the plunder captured, both human and animal. 27 Divide the plunder into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 From the share of the warriors who went out to battle, set aside as tribute for the Lord one item out of every five hundred, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, or sheep.(I) 29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. 30 But from the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, or sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the tabernacle of the Lord.”(J)
31 Then Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
32 The plunder remaining from the spoils that the troops had taken totaled six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,(K) 33 seventy-two thousand oxen, 34 sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known a man by sleeping with him.
36 The half-share, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 37 and the Lord’s tribute of sheep was six hundred seventy-five.(L) 38 The oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. 39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. 40 The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. 41 Moses gave the tribute, the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.(M)
42 As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from that of the troops, 43 the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, 44 thirty-six thousand oxen, 45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, 46 and sixteen thousand persons. 47 From the Israelites’ half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.(N)
48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses 49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the warriors who are under our command, and not one of us is missing. 50 And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each of us found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”(O) 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all in the form of crafted articles. 52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. 53 (The troops had all taken plunder for themselves.)(P) 54 So 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.(Q)
Footnotes
- 31.6 Gk: Heb adds to the war
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New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.