Chapter 31

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward you shall be gathered to your people. ³Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm you men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴Of every tribe one thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall you send to the war. ⁵So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷They warred against Midian, as Yahweh commanded Moses; and they killed every male. ⁸They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword. ⁹The children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey. ¹⁰All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire. ¹¹They took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of animal. ¹²They brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho. ¹³Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside of the camp. ¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war. ¹⁵Moses said to them, Have you saved all the women alive? ¹⁶Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. ¹⁷Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹Encamp you outside of the camp seven days: whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives. ²⁰As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify yourselves. ²¹Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: ²²however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³everything that may abide the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that doesn’t withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water. ²⁴You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp. ²⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation; ²⁷and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸Levy a tribute to Yahweh of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the donkeys, and of the flocks: ²⁹take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for Yahweh’s wave offering. ³⁰Of the children of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, even of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tent of Yahweh. ³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh commanded Moses. ³²Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³and seventy-two thousand oxen, ³⁴and seventy-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep: ³⁷and Yahweh’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five. ³⁸The oxen were thirty-six thousand; of which Yahweh’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred; of which Yahweh’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand; of whom Yahweh’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, which was Yahweh’s wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as Yahweh commanded Moses. ⁴²Of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred ⁴³(now the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴and thirty-six thousand oxen, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons), ⁴⁷even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tent of Yahweh; as Yahweh commanded Moses. ⁴⁸The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; ⁴⁹and they said to Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and there lacks not one man of us. ⁵⁰We have brought Yahweh’s offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Yahweh. ⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all worked jewels. ⁵²All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to Yahweh, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. ⁵³(For the men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh.