Psalm 9

Celebration of God’s Justice

For the choir director: according to Muth-labben. A psalm of David.

An Unclean Spirit’s Return

⁴³ “When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest but doesn’t find any.^{(A) 44} Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ Returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.^(B) That’s how it will also be with this evil generation.”

True Relationships

⁴⁶ While he^(C) was still speaking with the crowds, his mother and brothers were standing outside wanting to speak to him.^{(D) 47} Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”^[a]

⁴⁸ He replied to the one who was speaking to him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Stretching out his hand toward his disciples,^(E) he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”^(F)

Regulations about Vows

30 Moses told the leaders of the Israelite tribes,^(A) “This is what the Lord has commanded: ² When a man makes a vow to the Lord or swears an oath to put himself under an obligation, he must not break his word; he must do whatever he has promised.^(B)

³ “When a woman in her father’s house during her youth makes a vow to the Lord or puts herself under an obligation, ⁴ and her father hears about her vow or the obligation she put herself under, and he says nothing to her, all her vows and every obligation she put herself under are binding. ⁵ But if her father prohibits her on the day he hears about it, none of her vows and none of the obligations she put herself under are binding. The Lord will release her because her father has prohibited her.

⁶ “If a woman marries while her vows or the rash commitment she herself made are binding, ⁷ and her husband hears about it and says nothing to her when he finds out, her vows are binding, and the obligations she put herself under are binding. ⁸ But if her husband prohibits her when he hears about it, he will cancel her vow that is binding or the rash commitment she herself made, and the Lord will release her.

⁹ “Every vow a widow or divorced woman puts herself under is binding on her.

¹⁰ “If a woman in her husband’s house has made a vow or put herself under an obligation with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband hears about it, says nothing to her, and does not prohibit her, all her vows are binding, and every obligation she put herself under is binding. ¹² But if her husband cancels them on the day he hears about it, nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or her obligation, is binding. Her husband has canceled them, and the Lord will release her. ¹³ Her husband may confirm or cancel any vow or any sworn obligation to deny herself. ¹⁴ If her husband says nothing at all to her from day to day, he confirms all her vows and obligations, which are binding. He has confirmed them because he said nothing to her when he heard about them. ¹⁵ But if he cancels them after he hears about them, he will be responsible for her commitment.”^[a]

¹⁶ These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, or between a father and his daughter in his house during her youth.

War with Midian

31 The Lord spoke to Moses, ² “Execute vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”^(C)

³ So Moses spoke to the people, “Equip some of your men for war. They will go against Midian to inflict the Lord’s vengeance^(D) on them. ⁴ Send one thousand men to war from each Israelite tribe.” ⁵ So one thousand were recruited from each Israelite tribe out of the thousands^[b] in Israel—twelve thousand equipped for war. ⁶ Moses sent one thousand from each tribe to war. They went with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, in whose care were the holy objects and signal trumpets.

⁷ They waged war against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male.^{(E) 8} Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian.^(F) They also killed Balaam son of Beor^(G) with the sword. ⁹ The Israelites took the Midianite women and their dependents captive, and they plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property.^{(H) 10} Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites lived, as well as all their encampments, ¹¹ and took away all the spoils of war and the captives, both people and animals. ¹² They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹³ Moses, the priest Eleazar, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moses became furious with the officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. ¹⁵ “Have you let every female live?” he asked them. ¹⁶ “Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam’s advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the Lord in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the Lord’s community.^{(I) 17} So now, kill every male among the dependents and kill every woman who has gone to bed with a man,^{(J) 18} but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not gone to bed with a man.^(K)

¹⁹ “You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day.^{(L) 20} Also purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made of goat hair, and every article of wood.”^(M)

²¹ Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the legal statute the Lord commanded Moses: ²² The gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— ²³ everything that can withstand fire—you are to pass through fire, and it will be clean. It must still be purified with the purification water.^(N) Anything that cannot withstand fire, pass through the water. ²⁴ On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean.^(O) After that you may enter the camp.”

²⁵ The Lord told Moses, ²⁶ “You, the priest Eleazar, and the family heads of the community are to take a count of what was captured, people and animals. ²⁷ Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to war and the entire community.^{(P) 28} Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. ²⁹ Take the tribute from their half and give it to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰ From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of^[c] the Lord’s tabernacle.”

³¹ So Moses and the priest Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses. ³² The captives remaining from the plunder the army had taken totaled:

³⁶ The half portion for those who went out to war numbered:

⁴¹ Moses gave the tribute to the priest Eleazar as a contribution for the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴² From the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from the men who fought, ⁴³ the community’s half was:

⁴⁷ Moses took one out of every fifty, selected from the people and the livestock of the Israelites’ half. He gave them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded him.

⁴⁸ The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, approached Moses ⁴⁹ and told him, “Your servants have taken a census of the fighting men under our command, and not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have presented to the Lord an offering of the gold articles each man found—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”^(Q)

⁵¹ Moses and the priest Eleazar received from them all the articles made out of gold. ⁵² All the gold of the contribution they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, was 420 pounds.^{[d] 53} Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.^{(R) 54} Moses and the priest Eleazar 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.