Numbers 30-32
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
30 And Moses said to the heads or leaders of the tribes of Israel, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded:
2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break and profane his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
3 Also when a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, being in her father’s house in her youth,
4 And her father hears her vow and her pledge with which she has bound herself and he offers no objection, then all her vows shall stand and every pledge with which she has bound herself shall stand.
5 But if her father refuses to allow her [to carry out her vow] on the day that he hears about it, not any of her vows or of her pledges with which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her because her father refused to let her [carry out her purpose].
6 And if she is married to a husband while her vows are upon her or she has bound herself by a rash utterance
7 And her husband hears of it and holds his peace concerning it on the day that he hears it, then her vows shall stand and her pledge with which she bound herself shall stand.
8 But if her husband refuses to allow her [to keep her vow or pledge] on the day that he hears of it, then he shall make void and annul her vow which is upon her and the rash utterance of her lips by which she bound herself, and the Lord will forgive her.
9 But the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, with which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.
10 And if she vowed in her husband’s house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath
11 And her husband heard it and did not oppose or prohibit her, then all her vows and every pledge with which she bound herself shall stand.
12 But if her husband positively made them void on the day he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her.
13 Every vow and every binding oath to humble or afflict herself, her husband may establish it or her husband may annul it.
14 But if her husband altogether holds his peace [concerning the matter] with her from day to day, then he establishes and confirms all her vows or all her pledges which are upon her. He establishes them because he said nothing to [restrain] her on the day he heard of them.
15 But if he shall nullify them after he hears of them, then he shall be responsible for and bear her iniquity.
16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter while in her youth in her father’s house.
31 The Lord said to Moses,
2 Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your [departed] people.
3 And Moses said to the people, Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian and execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian [for seducing Israel].(A)
4 From each of the tribes of Israel you shall send 1,000 to the war.
5 So there were provided out of the thousands of Israel 1,000 from each tribe, 12,000 armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them to the war, 1,000 from each tribe, together with Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, with the [sacred] vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets to blow the alarm in his hand.
7 They fought with Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and slew every male,
8 Including the five kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba; also Balaam son of Beor they slew with the sword.(B)
9 And the Israelites took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their cattle, their flocks, and their goods as booty.
10 They burned all the cities in which they dwelt, and all their encampments.
11 And they took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast.
12 Then they brought the captives, the prey, and the spoil to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the Israelites at the camp on the plains of Moab by Jordan at Jericho.
13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes or leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.
14 But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, who served in the war.
15 And Moses said to them, Have you let all the women live?
16 Behold, these caused the Israelites by the counsel of Balaam to trespass and act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so a [smiting] plague came among the congregation of the Lord.(C)
17 Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who is not a virgin.
18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.
19 Encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and 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, all that is made of skins, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.
21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, This is the statute of the law which 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 fire, you shall make go through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and all that cannot stand fire [such as fabrics] you shall pass through water.
24 And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and you shall be clean; then you shall come into the camp.
25 And the Lord said to Moses,
26 Take the count of the prey 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 Divide the booty into two [equal] parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.
28 And levy a tribute to the Lord from the warriors who went to battle, one out of every 500 of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, and the flocks.
29 Take [this tribute] from the warriors’ half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.
30 And from the Israelites’ half [of the booty] you shall take one out of every fifty of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, the flocks, and of all livestock, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
32 The prey, besides the booty which the men of war took, was 675,000 sheep,
33 And 72,000 cattle,
34 And 61,000 donkeys,
35 And 32,000 persons in all, of the women who were virgins.
36 And the half share, the portion of those who went to war, was: 337,500 sheep,
37 And the Lord’s tribute of the 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 whom the Lord’s tribute was 32 persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 And the Israelites’ half Moses separated from that of the warriors’—
43 Now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep,
44 And 36,000 cattle,
45 And 30,500 donkeys,
46 And 16,000 persons—
47 Even of the Israelites’ half, Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites, who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.
48 And the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, came to Moses.
49 They told [him], Your servants have counted the warriors under our command, and not one man of us is missing.
50 We have brought as the Lord’s offering what each man obtained—articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, neck ornaments—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.
51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the wrought articles.
52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds was 16,750 shekels.
53 For the men of war had taken booty, every man 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 as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
32 Now the sons of Reuben and of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle, and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead [on the east side of the Jordan], and behold, the place was suitable for cattle.
2 So the sons of Gad and of Reuben came and said to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the congregation,
3 [The country around] Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
4 The land the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle.
5 And they said, If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.
6 And Moses said to the sons of Gad and of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here?
7 Why do you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land which the Lord has given them?
8 Thus your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land!
9 For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land the Lord had given them.
10 And the Lord’s anger was kindled on that day and He swore, saying,
11 Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me—
12 Except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.
13 And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed.
14 And behold, you are risen up in your fathers’ stead, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel.
15 For if you turn from following Him, He will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.
16 But they came near to him and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks and walled settlements for our little ones.
17 But we will be armed and ready to go before the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones shall dwell in the fortified settlements because of the people of the land.
18 We will not return to our homes until the Israelites have inherited every man his inheritance.
19 For we will not inherit with them on the [west] side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.
20 Moses replied, If you will do as you say, going armed before the Lord to war,
21 And every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies before Him
22 And the land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward you shall return and be guiltless [in this matter] before the Lord and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.
23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out.
24 Build settlements for your little ones, and folds for your sheep, and do that of which you have spoken.
25 And the sons of Gad and of Reuben said to Moses, Your servants will do as my lord commands.
26 Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle shall be there in the cities of Gilead.
27 But your servants will pass over, every man armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord says.
28 So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the tribes of Israel.
29 And Moses said to them, If the sons of Gad and Reuben will pass with you over the Jordan, every man armed to battle before the Lord, and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession.
30 But if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.
31 The sons of Gad and Reuben answered, As the Lord has said to your servants, so will we do.
32 We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, that the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan may be ours.
33 Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and of Reuben and to half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the land with its cities and their territories, even the cities round about the country.
34 And the sons of Gad built Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,
36 Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and folds for sheep.
37 And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,
38 Nebo, and Baal-meon—their names were to be changed—and Shibmah; and they gave other names to the cities they built.
39 And the sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.
40 And Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he settled in it.
41 Jair son of Manasseh took their villages and called them Havvoth-jair.
42 And Nobah took Kenath and its villages and called it Nobah after his own name.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
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