Numbers 31:15–40

15 And Moses said to them, “Have you 1spared aall the women?

16 “aBehold, these 1caused the sons of Israel, through the 2counsel of bBalaam, to 3trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.

17 “aNow therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man 1intimately.

18 “But all the 1girls who have not known man 2intimately, 3spare for yourselves.

19 “aAnd you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.

20 “You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of 1leather and all the work of goats’ hair, and all articles of wood.”

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses:

22 only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead,

23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with awater for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water.

24 “And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”

Division of the Booty

25 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the booty 1that was captured, both of man and of animal;

27 and adivide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.

28 “aLevy a tax for the Lord from the men of war who went out to battle, one 1in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep;

29 take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an 1offering to the Lord.

30 “From the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who akeep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

32 Now the booty that remained from the spoil which the 1men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep,

33 and 72,000 cattle,

34 and 61,000 donkeys,

35 and of human beings, of the women who had not known man 1intimately, all the persons were 32,000.

36 The half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500,

37 and the Lord’s levy of the sheep was 675;

38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 72;

39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61;

40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Lord’s levy was 32 persons.