The Lord Commands Israel to Defeat Midian

31 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Get even with the Midianites for what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your ancestors ⌞in death⌟.”

³ Moses said to the people, “Some of your men must get ready to go to war against the Midianites. The Lord will use them to get even with Midian. ⁴ Send 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel.”

⁵ So 1,000 men from each tribe were supplied from the divisions of Israel—12,000 men ready for war. ⁶ Then Moses sent them off to war, 1,000 men from each tribe along with Phinehas, son of the priest Eleazar. Phinehas took with him the holy articles and the trumpets for the fanfare.

⁷ They went to war against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and killed every man. ⁸ Among those killed were the five kings of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam, son of Beor, in battle. ⁹ The Israelites took the Midianite women and children as prisoners of war. They also took all their animals, their livestock, and their valuables as loot. ¹⁰ They burned all the cities where the Midianites lived and all their settlements. ¹¹ Then they took everything as loot, including all the people and animals, ¹² and brought the prisoners of war, the loot, and everything to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho.

¹³ Moses, the priest Eleazar, and all the leaders of the community went outside the camp to meet them. ¹⁴ Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of the companies and battalions, who were returning from battle.

¹⁵ “Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them. ¹⁶ “Remember, they were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the incident that took place at Peor. The Lord’s community experienced a plague at that time. ¹⁷ So kill all the Midianite boys and every Midianite woman who has gone to bed with a man. ¹⁸ But save for yourselves every girl who has never gone to bed with a man.

¹⁹ “Everyone who killed a person or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp seven days. You and your prisoners of war must use the ritual water on the third and seventh days in order to take away your sin. ²⁰ Do the same for all the clothes and everything made of leather, goats’ hair, or wood.”

²¹ Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what the Lord’s teachings told Moses to do: ²² Any gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— ²³ anything that won’t burn—must be put through fire in order to make it clean.^[a] Then it must also be put through the ritual water in order to take away its sin. Whatever might burn must ⌞only⌟ be put through the ritual water. ²⁴ On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “You, the priest Eleazar, and the heads of the families of the community need to count all the loot, including the people and animals you captured. ²⁷ Divide the loot between the soldiers who served in the war and the rest of the community. ²⁸ Collect a tax for the Lord. From the soldiers who served in the war collect one out of every 500 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. ²⁹ Collect all these things from the soldiers’ half of the loot, and give them to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰ From the Israelites’ half of the loot, collect one out of every 50 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and every other kind of animal. Give them to the Levites who are in charge of the work done at the Lord’s tent.” ³¹ Moses and the priest Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² This is the loot that was left from everything that the troops took: 675,000 sheep and goats, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, and ³⁵ 32,000 women who had never gone to bed with a man.

³⁶ Half of it went to the soldiers who served in the war. Of the 337,500 sheep and goats they received, ³⁷ 675 went to the Lord as taxes. ³⁸ Of the 36,000 cattle they received, 72 went to the Lord as taxes. ³⁹ Of the 30,500 donkeys they received, 61 went to the Lord as taxes. ⁴⁰ Of the 16,000 people they received, 32 went to the Lord as taxes.

⁴¹ Moses gave the Lord’s taxes to the priest Eleazar, as the Lord had commanded him.

⁴² Moses took the Israelites’ half of the loot from the soldiers. ⁴³ The community received 337,500 sheep and goats, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 people.

⁴⁷ From the Israelites’ half Moses collected one out of every 50 things, including people and animals, as the Lord commanded him. Then he gave all this to the Levites who were in charge of the work done at the Lord’s tent.

⁴⁸ Then the officers from the military divisions, the commanders of the companies and battalions of men, came to Moses. ⁴⁹ They said to him, “Sir, we have counted all the soldiers under our command, and not one of them is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have brought as gifts to the Lord the gold jewelry that each of us found—arm bands, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants. We offer them to make peace with the Lord.”

⁵¹ Moses and the priest Eleazar took all the hand-crafted gold articles from them. ⁵² All the gold contributed to the Lord by the commanders weighed about 420 pounds. ⁵³ Each soldier kept his own loot. ⁵⁴ Moses and the priest Eleazar took the gold from the commanders and brought it into the Lord’s presence at the tent of meeting as a reminder to the Israelites.

The Tribes of Reuben and Gad Request Land East of the Jordan River

32 The tribes of Reuben and Gad had a large number of livestock. They saw that the regions of Jazer and Gilead were a good place for livestock. ² So they came to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the leaders of the community, and said to them, ³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴ the land that the Lord won for the community of Israel, is a good place for livestock. Gentlemen, we have livestock. ⁵ Please give us this land as our property. Don’t make us cross the Jordan River.”

⁶ Moses asked the tribes of Gad and Reuben, “Are you going to stay here while the rest of the Israelites go to war? ⁷ That might discourage them from entering the land the Lord has given them. ⁸ That’s what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to take a look at the land. ⁹ They went as far as the Eshcol Valley and saw the land. But then they discouraged the rest of the Israelites from entering the land that the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ That day the Lord became angry and swore this oath, ¹¹ ‘None of the people 20 years old or older, who came from Egypt, will see the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath. This is because they didn’t wholeheartedly follow me.’ ¹² Only Caleb (son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite) and Joshua (son of Nun) will get to see the land. This is because they wholeheartedly followed the Lord. ¹³ Since the Lord was angry with the Israelites, he made them wander in the desert for 40 years until the whole generation of those who had done evil in the Lord’s presence was gone.

¹⁴ “You’re just like your parents! You’re a bunch of sinners trying to make the Lord angry with Israel again. ¹⁵ If you turn away from him, he will abandon all these people in the desert. You would be responsible for their destruction.”

¹⁶ Then the tribes of Gad and Reuben came up to Moses and said, “Allow us to build stone fences for our livestock and cities for our families here. ¹⁷ Then we’ll be ready ⌞to march⌟ in battle formation ^[b] ahead of the other Israelites until we have brought them to their land. Meanwhile our families will live in walled cities, safe from the other people who live here. ¹⁸ We will not return to our homes until every Israelite has received his own land. ¹⁹ We won’t take possession of any land on the other side of the Jordan River, to the west and beyond. We already have our land here, east of the Jordan.”

²⁰ Moses answered, “Do what you have said. In the Lord’s presence have all your armed men get ready for battle. ²¹ Have them cross the Jordan, and fight until the Lord forces out his enemies ²² and the land is conquered. Then you may come back. You will have fulfilled your military duty to the Lord and Israel. This land will be your own property in the Lord’s presence.

²³ “If you don’t do all these things, you will be sinning against the Lord. You can be sure that you will be punished for your sin. ²⁴ Build cities for your families and stone fences for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”

²⁵ Then the tribes of Gad and Reuben said to Moses, “Sir, we will do as you command. ²⁶ Our children, our wives, our livestock, and all our other animals will stay here in the cities of Gilead. ²⁷ But in the Lord’s presence we will all get ready for battle and go with you, as you have said.”

²⁸ So Moses gave orders about them to the priest Eleazar, Joshua (son of Nun), and the family heads of the tribes of Israel. ²⁹ Moses told them, “If the tribes of Gad and Reuben get ready for battle in the Lord’s presence and cross the Jordan River with you and you conquer the land, give them Gilead as their own property. ³⁰ If they don’t get ready for battle and go with you, the land they will take possession of must be in Canaan with yours.”

³¹ The tribes of Gad and Reuben answered, “Sir, we will do as the Lord has said. ³² We will enter Canaan as armed troops in the Lord’s presence, but the land we will take possession of is here, east of the Jordan.”

³³ So Moses gave the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of the tribe of Manasseh, son of Joseph, the kingdoms of King Sihon of the Amorites and King Og of Bashan—the whole land with its cities and its surrounding territory.

³⁴ The tribe of Gad rebuilt the cities of Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵ Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶ Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as walled cities. They also built stone fences for their flocks.

³⁷ The tribe of Reuben rebuilt the cities of Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸ Nebo, Baal Meon (whose names were changed), and Sibmah. These are the names they gave the cities they rebuilt.

³⁹ The descendants of Machir, son of Manasseh, went to Gilead, captured it, and forced out the Amorites who were there. ⁴⁰ So Moses gave Gilead to the people of Machir (the descendants of Manasseh), and they lived there. ⁴¹ Then Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, captured the settlements in Gilead. He called them Havvoth Jair [Settlements of Jair]. ⁴² Nobah captured Kenath and its villages. He named it Nobah after himself.