Numbers 31

Wycliffe Bible

31 And the Lord spake to Moses, and said,

² Venge thou first the sons of Israel of (the) Midianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people. (First take thou vengeance for the Israelites upon the Midianites, and then thou shalt be gathered to thy people, that is, thou shalt die.)

³ And anon Moses said, Arm ye (some) men of you to battle, that be able to take of the Midianites the vengeance of the Lord. (And at once Moses said to the people, Arm ye some men of you for battle, so that we can take the vengeance of the Lord upon the Midianites.)

⁴ (Out) Of each lineage be chosen a thousand men of Israel, that shall be sent (in)to battle.

⁵ And of each lineage they gave a thousand, that is, twelve thousand of men, ready to battle; (And so from each tribe they gave a thousand men, that is, twelve thousand men in all, ready for battle;)

⁶ which Moses sent forth with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the priest. And Moses betook to them [the] holy vessels, and trumps to make sound (and the trumpets with which to sound the battle-cry).

⁷ And when they had fought against (the) Midianites, and had overcome them, Israel killed all the males (the Israelites killed all their adult males),

⁸ and the kings of them, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five princes of the folk of them. Also Israel killed with sword Balaam, the son of Beor. (and their kings, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five Midianite kings. And the Israelites also killed with the sword Balaam, the son of Beor.)

⁹ And Israel took the women of them, and their little children, and all their beasts, and all the purtenance of their household; whatever they might have, they spoiled, that is, they destroyed; (And the Israelites took captive the Midianite women, and their little children, and carried off all their beasts, and all their household things; yea, whatever the Midianites possessed, they took;)

¹⁰ the flame burnt as well the cities, as (the) little towns, and castles. (and the flame burned up the cities, as well as the little towns, and the tents, or the camps.)

¹¹ And they took prey, and all things which they had taken, as well of men as of beasts, (And they took the spoils, and all the things which they had captured, of men and of beasts,)

¹² and they brought to Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and to all the multitude of the sons of Israel. Soothly they bare other useable things to their tents, standing in the field places of Moab, beside (the) Jordan, against Jericho. (and they brought it all to Moses, and to Eleazar, the priest, and to all the multitude of the Israelites. Yea, they carried all the useable things back to the tents, pitched there on the plains of Moab, across the Jordan River, opposite Jericho.)

¹³ [And] Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and all the princes of the synagogue, went out into the coming of them, without the tents. (And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went out to meet them, away from the tents.)

¹⁴ And Moses was wroth to the princes of the host, to the tribunes, and the centurions [(to the) leaders of thousands, and governors of hundreds], that came from the battle; (And Moses was angry with the leaders of the army, yea, with the tribunes, that is, the leaders of a thousand men, and the centurions, that is, the leaders of a hundred men, who came back from the battle;)

¹⁵ and he said to them, Why kept ye (all) [the] women (alive)?

¹⁶ whether it be not these that deceived the sons of Israel, at the suggestion of Balaam, and made you to do trespass against the Lord, upon the sin of Peor, wherefore also the people was slain? (was it not they who deceived the Israelites, at Balaam’s suggestion, and made you to trespass against the Lord with your sin at Peor, after which so many of the people then perished with the plague?)

¹⁷ And therefore slay ye all the men, whatever is of male kind, and the little children (And so kill ye all the men, yea, whoever is a male, and all the little children); and strangle ye the women that have known men fleshly;

¹⁸ soothly keep ye to you the young damsels, and all women virgins, (but you can keep for yourselves the young girls, and all the women who still be virgins,)

¹⁹ and dwell ye without the tents seven days. He that slayeth a man, or toucheth a slain man, shall be cleansed in the third [day], and the seventh day; (and then stay ye away from the tents for seven days. He who killeth a man, or toucheth a dead man, must cleanse both himself, and his captives, on the third day, and on the seventh day;)

²⁰ and of all the prey, whether it is cloth, or vessel, and anything made ready to things pertaining to use, of the skins and hairs of goats, and wood, it shall be cleansed. (and all the spoils, whether it is a cloak, or a vessel, or anything made out of skin, or of goat hair, or of wood, must also be made clean, or purified.)

²¹ And Eleazar, the priest, spake thus to the men of the host that fought, This is the commandment of the law, which the Lord commanded to Moses,

²² The gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and tin, and lead,

²³ and all thing that may pass by (the) flame, shall be purged by fire; soothly whatever thing may not suffer fire, shall be hallowed with the water of cleansing. (and all the things that can pass through the flame, shall be purified by fire; but whatever thing cannot survive the flame, shall be made clean with the water of cleansing, or of purification.)

²⁴ And ye shall wash your clothes in the seventh day, and ye shall be cleansed; and afterward ye shall enter into the tents. (And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and then ye shall be clean; and afterward ye can return to the tents.)

²⁵ And the Lord said to Moses,

²⁶ Take ye the sum, or the number, of those things that be taken, from man till to beast, thou, and Eleazar, [the] priest, and all the princes of the common people.

²⁷ And thou shalt part evenly the prey betwixt them that fought and went out to battle, and betwixt all the other multitude. (And thou shalt evenly divide the spoils between those who went out to the battle and fought, and all the other multitude.)

²⁸ And thou shalt separate a part to the Lord, of them that have fought, and were in battle, one soul of five hundred, as well of men, as of oxen, and of asses, and of sheep. (And thou shalt take a tribute, or a tax, for the Lord, from those who fought, and were in the battle, one soul out of five hundred, of people, and of oxen, and of donkeys, and of sheep.)

²⁹ And thou shalt give that part to Eleazar, the priest, for those be the first fruits of the Lord. (And thou shalt give that portion to Eleazar, the priest, for they be the first fruits, or a special contribution, for the Lord.)

³⁰ Also of the half part of the sons of Israel, thou shalt take the fiftieth head of men, and of oxen, and of asses, and of sheep, and of all living beasts; and thou shalt give those to the deacons, that (stand) watch in the keepings of the tabernacle of the Lord. (And from the half portion given to the Israelites, thou shalt take the fiftieth head of people, and of oxen, and of donkeys, and of sheep, yea, of all the living beasts; and thou shalt give them to the Levites, who keep charge of the Tabernacle of the Lord.)

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar did, as the Lord commanded.

³² Forsooth the prey which the host had taken, was six hundred and five and seventy thousand of sheep, (And the spoils which the army had captured, were six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,)

³³ of oxen, two and seventy thousand, (and seventy-two thousand oxen,)

³⁴ of asses, sixty thousand and a thousand; (and sixty-one thousand donkeys;)

³⁵ the souls of the persons of women kind, that knew not men, were two and thirty thousand. (and thirty-two thousand young women, who knew not men.)

³⁶ And the half part (that) was given to them that were in the battle, of sheep three hundred seven and thirty thousand, and five hundred; (And so the half portion of the sheep, that was given to them who were in the battle, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, and five hundred;)

³⁷ of which six hundred five and seventy sheep were numbered into the part of the Lord; (of which six hundred and seventy-five sheep were paid as the tribute, or the tax, to the Lord;)

³⁸ and of six and thirty thousand oxen, two and seventy oxen; (and of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen were paid as the tribute, or the tax, to the Lord;)

³⁹ and of thirty thousand asses and five hundred, one and sixty asses; (and of the thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys, sixty-one donkeys were paid as the tribute, or the tax, to the Lord;)

⁴⁰ (and) of [the] sixteen thousand persons of men, two and thirty persons befelled into the part of the Lord. (and of the sixteen thousand women, that is, the virgins, thirty-two persons were paid as the tribute, or the tax, to the Lord.)

⁴¹ And Moses betook the number of the first fruits of the Lord to Eleazar, the priest, as it was commanded to him, (And Moses gave the tribute of the first fruits, or the special contribution, for the Lord, to Eleazar, the priest, as the Lord had commanded him,)

⁴² of the half part of the sons of Israel, which he parted to them that were in battle. (out of the half portion for the Israelites, which he had separated for them who were in the battle.)

⁴³ And of the half part that befelled to the tother multitude, that is, of three hundred seven and thirty thousand sheep and five hundred, (And out of the half portion that befell to the rest of the people, that is, of the three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred sheep,)

⁴⁴ and of six and thirty thousand oxen, (and of the thirty-six thousand oxen,)

⁴⁵ and of thirty thousand asses and five hundred, (and of the thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys,)

⁴⁶ and of sixteen thousand women, (and of the sixteen thousand virgins,)

⁴⁷ Moses took the fiftieth head, and he gave them to the deacons, that (stood) watch in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded. (Moses took the fiftieth of each, and he gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the Tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded.)

⁴⁸ And when the princes of the host, and the tribunes, and the centurions had nighed to Moses, [And when the princes of the host were gone to Moses, and the leaders of thousands, and rulers of hundreds,] (And then the leaders of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions, came to Moses,)

⁴⁹ they said, We thy servants have told, (or totalled,) the number of fighters, which we had under our hand, or power, and soothly not one failed; (and they said, We thy servants have counted up again the number of the fighters, that we have under our command, and not one of them is missing;)

⁵⁰ for which cause we offer, or bring, to thee free gifts of the Lord, all by ourselves, that that we might find of gold in the prey, girdles for the women’s middles, and bands of the arms, and rings, and ornaments of the arm nigh the hand, and bands of the necks of women, that thou pray the Lord for us. (for which reason, we now freely bring to thee gifts for the Lord, from each of us, of that which we found in the spoils, yea, gold, and girdles for the women’s middles, and arm bands, and rings, and bracelets, and women’s necklaces, and we also ask that thou pray to the Lord for us.)

⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took all the gold in diverse kinds, (And so Moses and Eleazar, the priest, received all these diverse things of gold,)

⁵² by the weight of the saintuary, sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, of the tribunes, and the centurions [of the leaders of thousands, and rulers of hundreds]. (by the measure of the sanctuary, sixteen thousand and seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the tribunes, and the centurions.)

⁵³ For that that each man ravished in the prey, was his own; (For the spoils that each man had taken from the battle, was his own;)

⁵⁴ and they bare the gold taken into the tabernacle of witnessing, into mind of the sons of Israel, before the Lord. (and they took the gold, and brought it into the Tabernacle of the Witnessing, so that the Lord would remember the Israelites, and would protect them.)