Numbers 31:25-47

International Children’s Bible

Dividing the Goods

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “You, Eleazar the priest and the leaders should take a count. Count the goods, the men and the animals that were taken. ²⁷ Then divide those things between the soldiers who went to war and the rest of the people. ²⁸ Tax the soldiers who went to war. The Lord’s share is 1 thing out of every 500 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or goats. ²⁹ Take it from the soldiers’ half. And give it to Eleazar the priest. It is the Lord’s share. ³⁰ And from the people’s half, take 1 thing out of every 50. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats or other animals. Give that to the Levites. They take care of the Lord’s Holy Tent.” ³¹ So Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² There remained from what the soldiers had taken 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys ³⁵ and 32,000 women. These were the women who were virgins. ³⁶ The soldiers who went to war got 337,500 sheep. ³⁷ They gave 675 of the sheep to the Lord. ³⁸ They got 36,000 cattle. They gave 72 of them to the Lord. ³⁹ They got 30,500 donkeys. They gave 61 of them to the Lord. ⁴⁰ They got 16,000 people. And they gave 32 of them to the Lord. ⁴¹ Moses gave the Lord’s share to Eleazar the priest. This was what the Lord had commanded him.

⁴² Moses separated the people’s half from the soldiers’ half. ⁴³ The people got 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys ⁴⁶ and 16,000 people. ⁴⁷ From the people’s half Moses took 1 thing out of every 50 for the Lord. This included the animals and the people. Then he gave them to the Levites. They took care of the Lord’s Holy Tent. This was what the Lord had commanded Moses.