Números 31

Vengeance on the Midianites

¹The LORD spoke to Moses. He said, ²“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that you will be gathered to your people.” ³So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men for war, and let them go against Midian to carry out the LORD’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴Send a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵So a thousand from each tribe were provided from the clans of Israel, 12,000 men armed for war. ⁶Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who had in his care the holy articles and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.^{a 7}They made war on Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every man. ⁸Along with the others who were killed, they killed the kings of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ⁹The Israelites took the women of Midian and their children captive, and they carried off all their cattle, all their flocks and all their goods as plunder. ¹⁰They burned all the towns where the Midianites lived, and all their camps. ¹¹They took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals. ¹²They brought the captives, the plunder and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho.

Moses is angry with the officers

¹³Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who were coming back from the battle. ¹⁵Moses said to them, “You have let all the women live? ¹⁶These are the very women who, on Balaam’s advice, led the Israelites to be unfaithful to the LORD in the affair of Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the LORD. ¹⁷So now kill every boy among the children, and kill every woman who has slept with a man. ¹⁸But keep alive for yourselves all the girls who have not slept with a man. ¹⁹As for you, camp outside the camp for seven days. All of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone killed must purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰Purify also every garment, everything made of leather or of goat hair, and every object of wood.”

Cleansing after the battle

²¹Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law that the LORD commanded Moses: ²²Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead, ²³everything that can stand fire, you are to put through fire, and it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water for impurity. Whatever cannot stand fire you are to put through the water.^{b 24}On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may come into the camp.”

Dividing the plunder

²⁵The LORD said to Moses, ²⁶“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the families of the congregation are to count the plunder that was captured, both people and animals. ²⁷Divide the plunder into two halves, one for the men who fought in the battle and went out to war, and one for the whole congregation. ²⁸From the men who fought and went out to war, set apart a tribute for the LORD: one out of every 500, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. ²⁹Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution for the LORD. ³⁰And from the half that belongs to the Israelites take one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who carry out the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle.” ³¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses. ³²The plunder, what was left of the spoil the soldiers had taken, came to 675,000 sheep, ³³72,000 cattle, ³⁴61,000 donkeys, ³⁵and 32,000 people in all, girls who had not slept with a man. ³⁶The half that was the share of those who had gone out to war came to 337,500 sheep, ³⁷and the tribute for the LORD from the sheep was 675. ³⁸There were 36,000 cattle, and the tribute from them for the LORD was seventy-two. ³⁹There were 30,500 donkeys, and the tribute from them for the LORD was sixty-one. ⁴⁰There were 16,000 people, and the tribute from them for the LORD was thirty-two people. ⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, the LORD’s contribution, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD had commanded Moses. ⁴²Then there was the half that belonged to the Israelites, which Moses had separated from that of the men who fought. ⁴³The congregation’s half came to 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶and 16,000 people. ⁴⁷From this half that belonged to the Israelites Moses took one out of every fifty, of people and of animals, and gave them to the Levites who carry out the duties of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD had commanded Moses. ⁴⁸Then the officers over the units of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came to Moses ⁴⁹and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one man of us is missing. ⁵⁰So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man found, articles of gold: armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”^{c 51}Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all of it crafted jewelry. ⁵²All the gold that the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds presented as a contribution to the LORD weighed about 420 pounds. ⁵³Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.^{d 54}Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.