Numbers 31:25-47
New American Standard Bible
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 [a]that were captured, both of people and of livestock; 27 and (A)divide the spoils between the warriors who went to battle and all the congregation. 28 Also, (B)collect a tribute tax for the Lord from the men of war who went to battle, one [b]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 [c]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 (C)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 [d]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 [e]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 (D)as the Lord had commanded Moses.
42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses [f]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.
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- Numbers 31:26 Lit of captives
- Numbers 31:28 Lit soul from
- Numbers 31:29 Or uplifted offering, and so throughout the ch
- Numbers 31:32 Lit people
- Numbers 31:35 Lit man’s bed
- Numbers 31:42 Lit divided
Numbers 31:25-47
New English Translation
The Distribution of Spoils
25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 26 “You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum[a] of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals. 27 Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war—who went out to battle—and the other for all the community.
28 “You must exact[b] a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of 500, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep. 29 You are to take it from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord. 30 From the Israelites’ half share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep—from every kind of animal—and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.”
31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. 32 The spoil that remained of the plunder that the fighting men[c] had gathered[d] was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000[e] young women who had not experienced a man’s bed.[f]
36 The half portion of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep; 37 the Lord’s tribute from the sheep was 675. 38 The cattle numbered[g] 36,000; the Lord’s tribute was 72. 39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord’s tribute was 61. 40 The people were 16,000, of which the Lord’s tribute was 32 people.[h]
41 So Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.
42 From the Israelites’ half share that Moses had separated from the fighting men,[i] 43 there were 337,500 sheep from the portion belonging to the community, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 people.
47 From the Israelites’ share Moses took one of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle, just as the Lord commanded Moses.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Numbers 31:26 tn The idiom here is “take up the head,” meaning take a census, or count the totals.
- Numbers 31:28 tn The verb is the Hiphil, “you shall cause to be taken up.” The perfect with vav (ו) continues the sequence of the instructions. This raised offering was to be a tax of one-fifth of one percent for the Lord.
- Numbers 31:32 tn Heb “people.”
- Numbers 31:32 tn Heb “had plundered.”
- Numbers 31:35 sn Here again we encounter one of the difficulties of the book, the use of the large numbers. Only 12,000 soldiers fought the Midianites, but they brought back this amount of plunder, including 32,000 girls. Until a solution for numbers in the book can be found, or the current translation confirmed, one must remain cautious in interpretation.
- Numbers 31:35 tn Heb “who have not known a man’s bed.” The verb יָדָע (yadaʿ) “to know,” “be intimate with,” is used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Numbers 31:38 tn The word “numbered” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Numbers 31:40 tn Heb “soul.”
- Numbers 31:42 tn Heb “the men who were fighting.”
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