The Slaughter of Midian

31 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “^(A)Take vengeance on the Midianites for the sons of Israel; afterward you will be ^(B)gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, so that they may ^[a]go against Midian to execute ^(C)the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So there were selected from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, ^(D)and the holy implements and ^(E)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and ^(F)they killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of those killed: ^(G)Evi, Rekem, ^(H)Zur, 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 took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and they plundered all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their property. ¹⁰ Then they ^[b]burned all their cities where they lived and all their encampments. ¹¹ And ^(J)they took all the plunder and all the spoils, both of people and of livestock. ¹² They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, 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, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But 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 And Moses said to them, “Have you ^[c]spared ^(K)all the women? ^16 (L)Behold, they caused the sons of Israel, through the ^[d]counsel of ^(M)Balaam, to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the plague took place among the congregation of the Lord! ^17 (N)Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man ^[e]intimately. ¹⁸ However, all the ^[f]girls who have not known a ^[g]man intimately, keep alive for yourselves. ^19 (O)And as for you, camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has killed a person and whoever has touched anyone killed, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ And you shall purify for yourselves every garment, every article of leather, every work of goats’ hair, and every article 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 the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can ^[h]withstand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it will be clean, only it shall be purified with ^(P)water for impurity. But whatever cannot ^[i]withstand the fire you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean; and afterward you may enter the camp.”

Division of the Plunder

²⁵ Then the Lord 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 spoils ^[j]that were captured, both of people and of livestock; ²⁷ and ^(Q)divide the spoils between the warriors who went to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸ Also, ^(R)collect a tribute tax for the Lord from the men of war who went to battle, one ^[k]in five hundred of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep; ²⁹ take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an ^[l]offering to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn from 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)perform the duty of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

³² Now the spoils that remained from the plunder which the ^[m]men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, ³³ seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵ and of captive people, of the women who had not known a ^[n]man intimately, in all were thirty-two thousand people.

³⁶ The half, the share of those who went to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500, ³⁷ the Lord’s tribute tax of the sheep was 675; ³⁸ the cattle were thirty-six thousand, from which the Lord’s tribute tax was seventy-two; ³⁹ the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s tribute tax was sixty-one; ⁴⁰ and the captive people were sixteen thousand, from whom the Lord’s tribute tax was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute tax, which was the Lord’s offering, to Eleazar the priest, just ^(T)as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴² As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses ^[o]separated from the men who had gone to war— ⁴³ now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and the captive people were sixteen thousand— ⁴⁷ from the sons of Israel’s half Moses took one drawn from every fifty, both of people and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

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 they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of the men of war who are ^[p]under our authority, and no man of us is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have brought as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, ^(U)to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of crafted articles. ⁵² All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 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 brought it to the tent of meeting as ^(W)a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Lord.

^32 (A)As they were coming out, they found a man of ^(B)Cyrene named Simon, ^[a]whom they compelled to carry His ^[b]cross.

The Crucifixion

^33 (C)And when they came to a place called ^(D)Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull, ^34 (E)they gave Him ^(F)wine mixed with ^[c]bile to drink; and after tasting it, He was unwilling to drink it.

³⁵ And when they had crucified Him, ^(G)they divided His garments among themselves by casting ^[d]lots. ³⁶ And sitting down, they began to ^(H)keep watch over Him there. ³⁷ And above His head they put up the charge against Him ^[e]which read, “^(I)THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

³⁸ At that time two ^[f]rebels *were being crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And those passing by were ^[g]speaking abusively to Him, ^(J)shaking their heads, ⁴⁰ and saying, “^(K)You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! ^(L)If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, ⁴² “^(M)He saved others; ^[h]He cannot save Himself! ^(N)He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. ^43 (O)He has trusted in God; let God rescue Him now, if He ^[i]takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ^44 (P)And the ^[j]rebels who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him in the same way.

^45 (Q)Now from the ^[k]sixth hour darkness ^[l]fell upon all the land until the ^[m]ninth hour. ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “^(R)Eli, Eli, lema sabaktanei?” that is, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ⁴⁷ And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And ^(S)immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest of them said, “^[n]Let us see if Elijah comes to save Him^[o].” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(T)cried out again with a loud voice, and gave up His spirit. ^51 (U)And behold, ^(V)the ^[p]veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and ^(W)the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² Also the tombs were opened, and many bodies of the ^[q]saints who had ^(X)fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, they entered ^(Y)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (Z)Now as for the centurion and those who were with him ^(AA)keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw ^(AB)the earthquake and the other things that were happening, they became extremely frightened and said, “Truly this was ^[r](AC)the Son of God!”

^55 (AD)And many women were there watching from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee while ^(AE)caring for Him. ⁵⁶ Among them were ^(AF)Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and ^(AG)the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Jesus Is Buried

^57 (AH)Now when it was evening, a rich man from Arimathea came, named Joseph, who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸ This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹ And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, ⁶⁰ and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock; and he rolled ^(AI)a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹ And ^(AJ)Mary Magdalene was there, and the other Mary, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶² Now on the next day, that is, the day which is after ^(AK)the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, ⁶³ and they said, “Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was still alive, He said, ‘^(AL)After three days I am rising.’ ⁶⁴ Therefore, give orders for the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise, His disciples may come and steal Him, and say to the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.” ⁶⁵ Pilate said to them, “You have a ^(AM)guard; go, make it as secure as you know how.” ⁶⁶ And they went and made the tomb secure with ^(AN)the guard, ^(AO)sealing ^(AP)the stone.