Numbers 31
Jubilee Bible 2000
31 ¶ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
2 Avenge the sons of Israel upon the Midianites; afterward thou shalt be gathered unto thy peoples.
3 And Moses spoke unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war and let them go against the Midianites and carry out the vengeance of the LORD in Midian.
4 A thousand out of every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel shall ye send to the war.
5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them to the war; he sent a thousand of every tribe; and Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, went to the war with the holy instruments, with the trumpets to blow in his hand.
7 ¶ And they fought against the Midianites as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
8 And they also slew the kings of Midian among the rest of those that were slain: namely, Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, five kings of Midian; they also slew Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword.
9 And the sons of Israel took all the women of Midian captives and their little ones and took the spoil of all their beasts and all their flocks and all their goods.
10 And they burnt all their cities in which they dwelt and all their palaces with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.
12 And they brought the captives and the prey and the spoil unto Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and unto the congregation of the sons of Israel, unto the camp in the plains of Moab, which was by Jordan of Jericho.
13 ¶ And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, and all the princes of the congregation went forth to meet them outside the camp.
14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds who returned from the battle.
15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16 Behold, these caused the sons of Israel through the counsel of Balaam to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor for which there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman that has known a man by lying with him.
18 But all the female children that have not known a man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.
19 And ye must abide outside the camp seven days; and whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any dead body ye shall remove the sin from them on the third and on the seventh day, both of yourselves and of your captives.
20 Likewise remove all sin from all your clothing and all that is made of skins and all work of goats’ hair and every vessel made of wood.
21 And Eleazar, the priest, said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;
22 certainly the gold and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
23 every thing that may endure the fire, ye shall cause to pass through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless, ye shall remove the sin with the water of separation; and all that does not endure the fire ye shall cause to go through the water.
24 Ye shall also wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterwards ye shall come into the camp.
25 ¶ And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou and Eleazar, the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation,
27 and divide the prey into two parts between those that took the part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.
28 And offer a tribute unto the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the sheep.
29 Take it from their half and give Eleazar, the priest, the offering of the LORD.
30 And of the half belonging to the sons of Israel, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of animals and give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.
31 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32 And the prey, that is the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep
33 and seventy-two thousand oxen
34 and sixty-one thousand asses
35 and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known a man by lying with him.
36 And the half which was the portion of those that went out to war was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.
37 And the tribute for the LORD, of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five.
38 And the oxen were thirty-six thousand, of which the tribute for the LORD was seventy-two.
39 And the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the tribute for the LORD was sixty-one.
40 And the persons were sixteen thousand, of which the tribute for the LORD was thirty-two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s heave offering, unto Eleazar, the priest, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
42 And of the half pertaining to the sons of Israel, which Moses divided from the men that had gone to war,
43 (now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep
44 and thirty-six thousand oxen
45 and thirty thousand five hundred asses
46 and sixteen thousand persons)
47 of the half, therefore of the sons of Israel, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
48 ¶ And the officers who were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses,
49 and they said unto Moses, Thy slaves have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge and not one man of us is missing.
50 We have therefore brought an offering for the LORD, each man of what he has found, of vessels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to reconcile our souls before the LORD.
51 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took the gold from them, all wrought vessels.
52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
54 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the sons of Israel before the LORD.
Numbers 31
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Slaughter of Midian
31 Then the Lord 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 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may [a]go against Midian to execute (C)the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. 4 A 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, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 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 vessels 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 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 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)They took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12 They brought the captives and the prey 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 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains 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, these [d]caused the sons of Israel, through the [e]counsel of (M)Balaam, to [f]trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord. 17 (N)Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man [g]intimately. 18 But all the [h]girls who have not known man [i]intimately, [j]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 You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of [k]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 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 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 Booty
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 booty [l]that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and (Q)divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28 (R)Levy a tax for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle, one [m]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 an [n]offering to the Lord. 30 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 the Lord.” 31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
32 Now the booty that remained from the spoil which the [o]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 [p]intimately, all the persons were 32,000.
36 The half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500, 37 and the Lord’s levy of the sheep was 675; 38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 72; 39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61; 40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Lord’s levy was 32 persons. 41 Moses gave the levy 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 [q]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 charge 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 captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached 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 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 wrought articles. 52 All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. 53 (V)The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains 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.
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 Lit word
- Numbers 31:16 Possibly defect from the Lord
- 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, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 31:32 Lit people
- Numbers 31:35 Lit by lying with a man
- Numbers 31:42 Or divided
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