Chronological

War against Midian

31 Later, the Lord told Moses, ² “Be sure to exact vengeance on behalf of the Israelis from the Midianites, after which you’ll be taken home^[a] to your people.”

³ So Moses instructed the people, “Muster your men of war to attack the Midianites and deliver the Lord’s vengeance against Midian. ⁴ Send 1,000 men to war from every tribe throughout all of Israel.” ⁵ So 1,000 men from every tribe—12,000 from the thousands of Israel—were mustered and equipped for war.

⁶ Moses sent 1,000 men from every tribe to fight against them, along with Eleazar’s son Phinehas, in whose hands were the articles of the sanctuary and trumpets to sound battle alarms. ⁷ They fought against the Midianites^[b] just as the Lord had commanded Moses, killing every man. ⁸ They executed the five kings of Midian, including Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also executed Beor’s son Balaam with a sword. ⁹ After this, the Israelis took captive the Midianite women and children^[c] and confiscated as spoils of war all their cattle, livestock, and their goods. ¹⁰ They burned every town where they had lived and incinerated all of their encampments. ¹¹ They took all the booty and plunder, including both humans and animals. ¹² Then they brought the captives, booty, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the entire community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River in Jericho. ¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.

Commands Concerning War Captives

¹⁴ But Moses became livid with anger at the officers of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds who had returned from servicing in the battle. ¹⁵ “Did you keep all the women alive?” Moses asked them. ¹⁶ “Look! These women were the same ones who were counseled by Balaam to cause the Israelis to commit a grievous sin against the Lord at Peor. As a result, that plague infected the Lord’s community. ¹⁷ You are to kill every male child^[d] and every woman who has had sexual relations with a man.^{[e] 18} You are to allow the young women who haven’t yet had sexual relations with a man^[f] to live for yourselves.”

Purification after the Battle

¹⁹ “Now you are to stay outside the camp for seven days, after which any of you who has killed a person^[g] or touched someone who was killed may purify yourselves on the third day. You and your captives will be pure on the seventh day. ²⁰ Furthermore, you are to purify every garment—that is, everything made of leather, goat’s hair, or containing wood.”

²¹ Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses ²² concerning anything containing gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, lead, ²³ or anything else that can survive a refiner’s fire: You are to pass it through fire, after which it will be clean. Then it is to be purified with the water of impurity. Everything that cannot survive a refiner’s fire is to be washed in water. ²⁴ Wash your clothes on the seventh day, after which you will be clean. Then you may enter the camp.”

Offerings from War Booty

²⁵ Then the Lord told Moses, ²⁶ “Take an inventory of the booty that was taken in the battle,^[h] both of humans and of animals. Then you, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the fathers of the community ²⁷ are to divide the booty between the warriors who went to war and the rest of the community.

²⁸ “After this, you are to exact a tribute for the Lord from the soldiers who went to war, consisting of the tribute earned by one person out of every 500, whether from people, cattle, donkeys, or flocks. ²⁹ You are to take half their share and give it to Eleazar the priest as a raised offering to the Lord. ³⁰ Then take half the share of the Israelis, one drawn out of every 50 people, cattle, donkeys, flocks, and from every animal, then give to the descendants of Levi who maintain the service of the Lord’s tent.”

³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest did what the Lord had commanded Moses. ³² The goods confiscated in excess of the war implements^[i] that the warriors had gathered included 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, and ³⁵ 32,000 women who had not had sexual relations with a man.

God’s Portion of the War Booty

³⁶ Now half of the share of those who went to war numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ so the Lord’s tribute from the sheep totaled 675. ³⁸ The cattle numbered 36,000, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 72. ³⁹ The donkeys numbered 30,500, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 61. ⁴⁰ The people^[j] numbered 16,000, so the Lord’s tribute totaled 32 people. ⁴¹ Then Moses gave the tribute, a raised offering to the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁴² From half of the share of the Israelis that Moses had set aside from the soldiers, ⁴³ there were 337,500 sheep for the community, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 people.

⁴⁷ Moses took a portion drawn from every 50 Israelis, including from both human and animals, and gave them to the descendants of Levi who maintained the Lord’s tent, just as the Lord had commanded him.^{[k] 48} Then the officers in charge of thousands of soldiers, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds approached Moses ⁴⁹ and told him,^[l] “Your servants took a count of the soldiers who were under our authority. We didn’t miss a single man. ⁵⁰ We’ve brought offerings to the Lord from whatever each man found—jewel-encrusted gold, anklets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves^[m] in the Lord’s presence.”

⁵¹ Then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them and everything that was fashioned into jewels. ⁵² The gold for the raised offering that they brought to the Lord totaled 16,750 shekels, ⁵³ because every soldier had confiscated war booty for his own use. ⁵⁴ Moses and Eleazar took the gold from the captains of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, to serve as a memorial to the Israelis in the Lord’s presence.

Reuben and Gad Present a Proposal^(A)

32 Now, the descendants of Reuben and descendants of Gad happened to be joint owners of a very large herd of cattle. When they observed that Jazer and Gilead were good grazing lands^[n] for cattle, ² the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben approached Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the community and said, ³ “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon— ⁴ the land that the Lord defeated in the sight of the community of Israel—is perfect for cattle and your servants have cattle. ⁵ If we’ve found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as our possession instead of us crossing the Jordan River.”^[o]

⁶ “Will your relatives have to go to war while you remain here?” Moses asked the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben in response. ⁷ “Why would you discourage^[p] the Israelis from crossing over to the land that the Lord has given them? ⁸ That’s what^[q] your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to explore^[r] the land. ⁹ When they arrived in the Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged^[s] the Israelis from entering the land that the Lord had given them. ¹⁰ That’s why the Lord’s anger flared up that day and he promised by an oath that ¹¹ ‘Not one of the men who went up from Egypt, from 20 years old and above, will see the land that I promised to give to their ancestors, that is, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because none of them followed me wholeheartedly,^{[t] 12} except Jephunneh’s son Caleb, the Kenizzite, and Nun’s son Joshua. They’ve wholeheartedly followed the Lord.’

¹³ “The Lord’s anger had flared up against Israel so that he made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years until that whole generation, who committed evil in the eyes of the Lord, had died. ¹⁴ And now, look! You’re acting just like^[u] your ancestors, like a brood^[v] of sinful men, who are provoking the fierce anger of the Lord against the Israelis one step at a time. ¹⁵ If you stop following him, he will once again abandon them in the wilderness. You’ll end up destroying this entire people.”

A Compromise is Offered

¹⁶ Then they approached him and said, “Here’s where we’re going to build corrals for our cattle and cities for our families,^{[w] 17} but we will keep ourselves armed and stay ready to go with the Israelis until we’ve brought them to their own places. Our families intend to live in fortified cities in the presence of the inhabitants of the land, ¹⁸ but we won’t return to our homes until every Israeli has taken possession of each of their inheritances, ¹⁹ since our inheritance will not be with them across the Jordan River and beyond. Instead, our inheritance is on this side of the Jordan River, facing eastward.”

The Offer is Accepted

²⁰ “If you do this,” Moses replied to them, “that is, if you equip yourselves for war in the Lord’s presence ²¹ and every one of your armed soldiers crosses over the Jordan River in the presence of the Lord until he has dispossessed his enemies ahead of him ²² and subjugated the land before him,^[x] then afterwards when you return, you’ll be able to stand blameless before the Lord and before Israel. This land will then be your possession before the Lord. ²³ “But if you won’t do so, look out! You will be sinning against the Lord. Be certain of this, that your sin will catch up to you! ²⁴ So after you’ve built cities for your families and corrals for your cattle, be sure to keep your promises.”

Moses Assigns the Territory

²⁵ Then the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben spoke up. “Your servants will do exactly what our master has commanded.” They said. ²⁶ “Our children, wives, flocks, and all our cattle will be settled in the cities of Gilead, ²⁷ but every soldier that we’ve equipped for battle will cross the Jordan River^[y] in the presence of the Lord, as our master has spoken.”

²⁸ So Moses instructed Eleazar the priest and Nun’s son Joshua, and the officers of the ancestral tribes of the Israelis, ²⁹ telling them, “If the descendants of Gad and descendants of Reuben cross over the Jordan River with you, that is, all of their soldiers who’ve been equipped for battle in the Lord’s presence, so that the land is subjugated right before your eyes, then you are to give them the land of Gilead as their possession. ³⁰ But if the armed men don’t cross over with you, then they won’t have any possession in the land of Canaan.”

³¹ “We’ll do just what the Lord told your servants,” the descendants of Gad and the descendants of Reuben responded. ³² “We are to cross over in battle array^[z] in the Lord’s presence into the land of Canaan, and afterwards the possession of our inheritance will be on this side of the Jordan River.”

³³ So Moses gave to the descendants of Gad, to the descendants of Reuben, and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh the kingdom of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the whole land with its cities, and even the territories surrounding it.

Gad and Reuben Rebuild Their Cities

³⁴ The descendants of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵ Atrothshophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ³⁶ Beth-nimrah, and Beth-haran as fortified cities with corrals for sheep. ³⁷ The descendants of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ³⁸ Nebo, Baal-meon (after having changed their names), and Sibmah. The cities that they rebuilt were renamed. ³⁹ The descendants of Manasseh’s son Machir attacked Gilead and then captured and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. ⁴⁰ That’s why Moses gave Gilead to Manasseh’s son Machir, who lived there at the time. ⁴¹ Manasseh’s son Jair captured^[aa] their towns and renamed them Havvoth-jair. ⁴² Nobah captured Kenath and its towns and renamed it Nobah after himself.