Beginning
31 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
2 Avenge the Bnei Yisroel of the Midyanim; afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.
3 And Moshe spoke unto HaAm, saying, Arm some of your anashim unto war, let them go against Midyan, and avenge Hashem of Midyan.
4 Of every matteh a thousand, throughout kol mattot Yisroel, shall ye send to war.
5 So there were supplied out of the thousands of Yisroel, an elef (a thousand) of every matteh, sheneym asar elef armed for war.
6 And Moshe sent them to war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Pinchas Ben Eleazar HaKohen, to the war, with the kelei hakodesh, and the tzotzerot hateru’ah in his yad.
7 And they warred against Midyan, just, as Hashem commanded Moshe; and they slaughtered kol zachar.
8 And they slaughtered the Melachim of Midyan, besides the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Tzur, and Chur, and Reva, five melachim of Midyan; Balaam Ben Beor also they slaughtered with the cherev.
9 And the Bnei Yisroel took all the nashim of Midyan captive, and their little ones, and took the plunder of all their behemah, and all their mikneh, and all their goods.
10 And they burned with eish all their towns wherein were their moshavot, and all their camps.
11 And they took all the plunder, and all the spoil, both of adam and of behemah.
12 And they brought the captives, and the plunder, and the spoil, unto Moshe, and Eleazar HaKohen, and unto the Adat Bnei Yisroel, unto the machaneh at the plains of Moav, which are by Yarden near Yericho.
13 And Moshe, and Eleazar HaKohen, and all the nasiim of the Edah, went forth to meet them outside the machaneh.
14 And Moshe was in wrath with the pekudei hechayil (officers of the army), with the sarim over thousands, and sarim over hundreds, which were returning from the milchamah of the army.
15 And Moshe said unto them, Have ye saved all the nekevah alive?
16 Hinei, these caused the Bnei Yisroel, through the davar Balaam, to turn unfaithful against Hashem in the matter of Peor, and there was a magefah (plague) among the Adat Hashem.
17 Now therefore slaughter every zakhar among the little ones, and kill every isha that hath known ish by lying with zakhar.
18 But all the girl nashim, that have no da’as of lying with zakhar, save alive for yourselves.
19 And do ye abide outside the machaneh shivat yamim; whosoever hath killed nefesh, and whosoever hath touched any chalal, purify both yourselves and your captives on Yom HaShelishi and on Yom HaShevi’i.
20 And purify all your beged, and all keli ohr (all that is made of leather), ma’aseh izzim (all that is made of goat hair) and keli etz (all that is make of wood).
21 And Eleazar HaKohen said unto the anshei hatzavah which went into milchamah, This is the chukkat hatorah which Hashem commanded Moshe:
22 Only the zahav, and the kesef, the nechoshet, the barzel, the bedil, and the oferet,
23 Everything that can withstand eish, ye shall make it go through the eish, and it shall be tahor; nevertheless it shall be purified with the mayim of niddah; and all that can not withstand the eish ye shall make go through the mayim.
24 And ye shall wash your begadim on Yom HaShevi’i, and ye shall be tahor, and afterward ye shall come into the machaneh.
25 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
26 Take inventory of the spoil that was taken, both of adam and of behemah, thou, and Eleazar HaKohen, and the Rashei Avot HaEdah:
27 And divide the spoil into two parts: between them that took the milchamah upon them, who went out to battle, and kol HaEdah;
28 And levy a mekhes (tribute) unto Hashem of the anshei hamilchamah which went out to battle: one nefesh from five hundred, both of adam, and of bakar, and of chamorim, and of tzon;
29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar HaKohen, for a terumat Hashem.
30 And of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of adam, of bakar, of chamorim, and of tzon, of all behemah, and give them unto the Levi’im, who are shomrei mishmeret Mishkan Hashem (who are guardians of the Mishkan Hashem).
31 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen did just as Hashem commanded Moshe.
32 And the spoil, being the rest of the plunder which the am hatzava (personnel of the army) had taken, was 675,000 tzon,
33 And 72,000 bakar,
34 And 61,000 chamorim,
35 And 32,000 nefesh adam from the nashim who had no da’as of zachar by lying with him.
36 And the half, which was the chelek of them that went out to war, was in number 337,500 tzon;
37 And the mekhes (tribute) for Hashem of the tzon was 675.
38 And the bakar were 36,000; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 72.
39 And the chamorim were 30,500; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 61.
40 And the nefesh adam were 16,000; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 32 nefesh.
41 And Moshe gave the mekhes, which was the terumat Hashem, unto Eleazar HaKohen, as Hashem commanded Moshe.
42 And of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, which Moshe divided from the anashim hatzove’im,
43 (Now the half that pertained unto the Edah was 337,500 tzon,
44 And 36,000 bakar,
45 And thirty thousand chamorim and five hundred,
46 And sixteen thousand nefesh adam);
47 Even of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, Moshe took one portion of fifty, both of adam and of behemah, and gave them unto the Levi’im, who were shomrei mishmeret Mishkan Hashem; just as Hashem commanded Moshe.
48 And the pekudim (officers) which were over thousands of the tzava (army), the sarim of thousands, and sarim of hundreds, came near unto Moshe;
49 And they said unto Moshe, Thy avadim have taken the muster census of the anshei hamilchamah which are under our charge, and there was missing not one ish of us.
50 We have therefore brought a korban Hashem, what every ish hath gotten, of articles of zahav, armlets, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make kapporah for our nefashot before Hashem.
51 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen took the zahav of them, even all wrought jewels.
52 And all the zahav of the terumah (offering) that they offered up to Hashem, of the sarim of thousands, and of the sarim of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
53 (For the anshei hatzava had taken plunder, every ish for himself.)
54 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen accepted the zahav of the sarim of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Ohel Mo’ed, for a zikaron (memorial) for the Bnei Yisroel before Hashem.
32 Now the Bnei Reuven and the Bnei Gad had a very great multitude of mikneh; and when they saw Eretz Yazer, and Eretz Gil`ad, that, hinei, the makom was a makom for mikneh;
2 The Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuven came and spoke unto Moshe, and to Eleazar HaKohen, and unto the nasiim of the Edah, saying,
3 Atarot, and Divon, and Yazer, and Nimrah, and Chesbon, and Elealeh, and Sevam, and Nevo, and Beon,
4 Even HaAretz which Hashem struck to conquer before the Adat Yisroel, is an eretz for mikneh, and thy avadim have mikneh.
5 They said, If we have found chen in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy avadim for an achuzzah, and bring us not over Yarden.
6 And Moshe said unto the Bnei Gad and to the Bnei Reuven, Shall your achim go to milchamah while ye sit here?
7 And why discourage ye the lev Bnei Yisroel from going over into HaAretz which Hashem hath given them?
8 Thus did Avoteichem, when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over HaAretz.
9 For when they went up unto the Eshcol Valley, and saw HaAretz, they discouraged the lev Bnei Yisroel, that they should not go into HaAretz which Hashem had given them.
10 And the Af Hashem was kindled on that day, and He swore, saying,
11 Surely none of the anashim that came up out of Mitzrayim, from twenty years old and upward, shall see HaAdamah which I swore unto Avraham, unto Yitzchak, and unto Ya’akov; because they have not fully followed Me;
12 Except Kalev Ben Yephunneh the Kenezi, and Yehoshua Ben Nun; for they have fully followed after Hashem.
13 And the Af Hashem was kindled against Yisroel, and He made them wander in the midbar arba’im shanah, until kol hador that had done harah in the sight of Hashem, were consumed.
14 And, hinei, ye are risen up in the place of Avoteichem a brood of anashim chatta’im to add even more to charon af Hashem against Yisroel.
15 For if ye turn away from after Him, He will yet again leave them in the midbar; and ye shall destroy kol HaAm Hazeh.
16 And they came near unto him, and said, We will build gidrot tzon here for our mikneh, and towns for our little ones;
17 But we ourselves will go ready armed ahead of the Bnei Yisroel, until we have brought them unto their makom; and our little ones shall dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of HaAretz.
18 We will not return unto bateinu, until the Bnei Yisroel have inherited every ish his nachalah.
19 For we will not inherit with them across the Yarden, or beyond; because our nachalah is fallen to us on this side of the Yarden eastward.
20 And Moshe said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before Hashem to milchamah,
21 And will go all of you armed over Yarden before Hashem, until He hath driven out His oyevim from before Him,
22 And HaAretz be subdued before Hashem; then afterward ye shall return, and be nekiyim before Hashem, and before Yisroel; and HaAretz Hazot shall be your achuzzah before Hashem.
23 But if ye will not do so, hinei, ye have sinned against Hashem and be sure chattatechem (your sin) will find you out.
24 Build you towns for your little ones, and your gidrot tzon; and do that which hath proceeded out of your mouth.
25 And the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuven spoke unto Moshe saying, Thy avadim will do as adoni commandeth.
26 Our little ones, our nashim, our mikneh, and all behemeteinu, shall stay there in the cities of Gil‘ad;
27 But thy avadim will cross over, every man armed for war, before Hashem to battle, as adoni saith.
28 So concerning them Moshe commanded Eleazar HaKohen, and Yehoshua Ben Nun, and the Rashei Avot HaMattot of the Bnei Yisroel;
29 And Moshe said unto them, If the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuven will cross with you over Yarden, every man armed for battle, before Hashem, and HaAretz shall be subdued before you, then ye shall give them Eretz Gil‘ad for an achuzzah;
30 But if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in Eretz Kena’an.
31 And the Bnei Gad and the Bnei Reuven answered, saying, As Hashem hath said unto thy avadim, so will we do.
32 We will cross over armed before Hashem into Eretz Kena’an, that the achuzzat nachalatenu on that side of the Yarden may be our own.
33 And Moshe gave unto them, even to the Bnei Gad, and to the Bnei Reuven, and unto half the shevet of Menasheh Ben Yosef, the kingdom of Sichon Melech HaEmori, and the kingdom of Og Melech HaBashan, the land, with the cities thereof in the territories, even the cities of the surrounding land.
34 And the Bnei Gad built Divon, and Atarot, and Aroer,
35 And Atrot, Shophan, Ya’azer, and Yogbehah,
36 And Beit Nimrah and Beit Haran, fortified cities; and gidrot tzon.
37 And the Bnei Reuven built Cheshbon, and Elealeh, and Kiryatayim,
38 And Nevo, and Ba’al Me’on, (their shem being changed) and Sivmah; and gave other shmot unto the cities which they built.
39 And the Bnei Machir Ben Menasheh went to Gil‘ad, and captured it, and dispossessed the Emori (Amorite) which was in it.
40 And Moshe gave Gil‘ad unto Machir Ben Menasheh; and he dwelt therein.
41 And Ya’ir Ben Menasheh went and captured the settlements thereof, and called them Chavot Ya’ir.
42 And Novach went and captured Kenat, and the villages thereof, and called it Novach, after shmo.
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International