Numbers 31

Revised Geneva Translation

31 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

² “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. And afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

³ And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Some of you, arm yourselves for war. And let them go against Midian, to execute the vengeance of the LORD against Midian.

⁴ “A thousand of every tribe throughout all the tribes of Israel shall you send to the war.”

⁵ So there were taken out of the thousands of Israel, twelve thousand, prepared to war, of every tribe a thousand.

⁶ And Moses sent them to war, a thousand of every tribe. And he sent them with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the Priest, to the war. And the holy instruments—that is, the trumpets to blow—were in his hand.

⁷ And they warred against Midian, as the LORD had Commanded Moses, and killed all the males.

⁸ They also killed the kings of Midian among those who were killed: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. And they killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword.

⁹ But the children of Israel took the women of Midian prisoners, and their children, and plundered all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

¹⁰ And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their villages, with fire.

¹¹ And they took all the plunder, and all the prey, both of men and beasts.

¹² And they brought the captives, and that which they had taken, and the spoil, to Moses and to Eleazar the Priest and to the Congregation of the children of Israel, into the camp in the plain of Moab, which was by Jordan, toward Jericho.

¹³ Then, Moses and Eleazar the Priest and all the princes of the Congregation went out of the camp to meet them.

¹⁴ And Moses was angry with the captains of the army, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, who came from the war and battle.

¹⁵ And Moses said to them, “What? Have you saved all the women?

¹⁶ “Behold, these caused the children of Israel (through the counsel of Balaam) to commit a trespass against the LORD as concerning Peor. And there came a plague among the Congregation of the LORD.

¹⁷ “Now, therefore, kill all the males among the children, and kill all the women that have known man by carnal copulation.

¹⁸ “But all the female children that have not known carnal copulation, keep alive for yourselves.

¹⁹ “And you shall remain outside the camp for seven days, all who have killed any person and all who have touched any dead. And purify both yourselves and your prisoners on the third day and the seventh.

²⁰ “Also, you shall purify every garment and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.”

²¹ And Eleazar the Priest said to the men of war which went to the battle, “This is the Ordinance of the Law which the LORD Commanded Moses.

²² “As for gold, and silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead —

²³ “all that may abide the fire — you shall make it go through the fire. And it shall be clean. Still, it shall be purified with the water of purification. And all that is not subject to the fire, you shall cause to pass by the water.

²⁴ “You shall also wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you shall come into the camp.”

²⁵ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶ “Take the sum of the plunder that was taken, both of persons and of cattle, you and Eleazar the Priest, and the chief fathers of the Congregation.

²⁷ “And divide the plunder between the soldiers that went to the war, and all the Congregation.

²⁸ “And you shall take a tribute to the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle, one of every five hundred from the people and from the cattle and from the donkeys and from the sheep.

²⁹ “You shall take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the Priest, as a Heave Offering to the LORD.

³⁰ “But from the half of the children of Israel you shall take one, taken out of fifty, of the people, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep, of all the livestock. And you shall give them to the Levites, who are in charge of the Tabernacle of the LORD.”

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the Priest did as the LORD had Commanded Moses.

³² And the remainder — the rest of the plunder which the men of war had taken — was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

³³ and seventy-two thousand cattle,

³⁴ and sixty-one thousand donkeys,

³⁵ and thirty-two thousand people, in all, of women who had lain by no man.

³⁶ And the half — the part of those who went out to war, touching the number of sheep — was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

³⁷ And the LORD’s tribute from the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

³⁸ And there were thirty-six thousand cattle, of which the LORD’s tribute was seventy-two.

³⁹ And there were thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which the LORD’s tribute was sixty-one.

⁴⁰ And sixteen thousand people, of which the LORD’s tribute was thirty-two people.

⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute from the LORD’s offering to Eleazar the Priest, as the LORD had Commanded Moses,

⁴² and from the half of the children of Israel, which Moses divided from the men of war.

⁴³ For the half that pertained to the Congregation was three hundred thirty- seven thousand five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴ and thirty-six thousand cattle,

⁴⁵ and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

⁴⁶ and sixteen thousand people.

⁴⁷ Moses, I say, took from the half that pertained to the children of Israel, (one taken out of fifty) of the persons, and of the cattle, and gave them to the Levites, who have the charge of the Tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD had Commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then the captains who were over thousands of the army — the captains over the thousands and the captains over the hundreds — came to Moses,

⁴⁹ and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our authority, and there lacks not one man of us.

⁵⁰ “We have, therefore, brought a present to the LORD — what every man found of jewels of gold, bracelets, and chains, rings, earrings, and ornaments of the legs — to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.”

⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar the Priest took the gold from them, and all wrought jewels.

⁵² And all the gold from the offering that they offered up to the LORD (of the captains over thousands and hundreds) was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.

⁵³ The men of war had plundered, every man for himself.

⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the Priest took the gold from the captains over the thousands, and over the hundreds, and brought it into the Tabernacle of the Congregation, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the LORD.