Numbers 31

31 ¹Our Father said to Moses,

²"Avenge the Israelites against the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people."

³So Moses told the people, "Arm men from among you for war, to go against Midian and carry out our Father's justice on Midian. ⁴You are to send 1,000 from each of the tribes of Israel to the war." ⁵So from Israel's thousands, 1,000 per tribe were supplied—12,000 armed for war. ⁶Moses sent them to war, 1,000 from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, carrying the holy articles of the sanctuary and the signal trumpets in his hand. ⁷They waged war against Midian, as our Father had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ⁸They killed the kings of Midian among the slain—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, Midian's five kings—and killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ⁹The people of Israel captured Midian's women and children, and plundered all their livestock, flocks, and goods. ¹⁰They burned with fire all the cities where they lived and all their camps, ¹¹and they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals. ¹²They brought the captives, plunder, and spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and Israel's whole assembly, at the camp on Moab's plains by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ¹³Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the assembly's leaders went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴But Moses was angry with the army's officers, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who returned from the battle. ¹⁵Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶Look, these women, on Balaam's advice, led Israel to betray our Father in the Peor incident, bringing the plague on the congregation of our Father. ^a a v16 The Peor incident: Israelite men were seduced into Baal worship and immorality, bringing a deadly plague on the camp (see Numbers 25). ¹⁷Now kill every male child, and kill every woman who has slept with a man. ¹⁸But keep alive for yourselves every young girl who has not slept with a man.

¹⁹Stay outside the camp seven days. Anyone who killed someone or touched a corpse must purify themselves on the third day and the seventh—you and your captives. ²⁰Purify every garment, every leather article, everything made of goats' hair, and every wood article."

²¹Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone to war, "This is the statute of the law our Father commanded Moses: ²²only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead. ²³Everything that can withstand fire, pass through the fire—it becomes clean. But it must also be purified with water of purification. Whatever can't withstand fire, pass through the water. ²⁴Wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you'll be clean; then you may enter the camp."

Counting the Plunder

²⁵Our Father said to Moses,

²⁶"You, Eleazar the priest, and the family heads of the community, count the plunder taken, people and animals. ²⁷Divide the plunder into two: between the fighters who went to battle and the whole congregation. ²⁸From the soldiers who went out to battle, take a tax for me: one in 500—people, cattle, donkeys, and flocks. ²⁹Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to me. ³⁰From the Israelites' half, take one in fifty—from the people, cattle, donkeys, flocks, and all the animals—and give them to the Levites who keep charge of my tabernacle."

³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did as our Father had commanded Moses. ³²The plunder remaining from the spoil that the army had taken was 675,000 sheep, ³³72,000 cattle, ³⁴61,000 donkeys, ³⁵and 32,000 persons in all—the women who had not slept with a man. ³⁶The half belonging to those who had gone out to war numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷and the tribute to our Father from the sheep was 675. ³⁸The cattle were 36,000, of which the tribute to our Father was 72. ³⁹The donkeys were 30,500, of which the tribute to our Father was 61. ⁴⁰The persons were 16,000, of which the tribute to our Father was 32. ⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, our Father's contribution, to Eleazar the priest, as our Father commanded him. ⁴²As for the Israelites' half, which Moses had set apart from that of the men who fought, ⁴³the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶and 16,000 persons. ⁴⁷From the Israelites' half, Moses took one of every fifty—people and animals—and gave them to the Levites in charge of our Father's tabernacle, as our Father had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸The officers over the army's units, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, came to Moses, ⁴⁹and said to him, "Your servants counted the fighting men under our command; not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰So we've brought our Father an offering—each man's find: gold articles, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, beads—to atone for ourselves before our Father."

⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all the crafted articles. ⁵²All the gold of the contribution that they presented to our Father, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came to about 420 pounds. ⁵³The men of war had each taken plunder for himself. ⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a reminder for the Israelites before our Father.