Numbers 31–33

And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ^2aAvenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou ^bbe gathered unto thy people. ³And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the Lord of Midian. ⁴Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. ⁵So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand ^carmed for war. ⁶And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and ^dthe trumpets to blow in his hand. ⁷And they warred against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses; and ^ethey slew all the males. ⁸And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, ^fEvi, and Rekem, and ^gZur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: ^hBalaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword. ⁹And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all ⁱtheir goods. ¹⁰And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire. ¹¹And ^jthey took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts. ¹²And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at ^kthe plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

¹³And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them ^lwithout the camp. ¹⁴And Moses was wroth with the ^mofficers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle. ¹⁵And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved ⁿall the women alive? ¹⁶Behold, ^othese caused the children of Israel, through the ^pcounsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of ^qPeor, and there was ^ra plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷Now therefore ^skill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. ¹⁸But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹And ^tdo ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and ^uwhosoever hath touched any slain, ^vpurify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day. ²⁰And ^vpurify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood. ²¹And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses; ²²only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it ^vshall be purified ^wwith the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water. ²⁴And ye shall ^xwash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.

²⁵And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ²⁶Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation: ²⁷and ^ydivide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation: ²⁸and levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: ^zone soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep: ²⁹take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for a heave offering of the Lord. ³⁰And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take ^aone portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, ^bwhich keep the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord. ³¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses. ³²And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep, ³³and threescore and twelve thousand beeves, ³⁴and threescore and one thousand asses, ³⁵and thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep: ³⁷and ^cthe Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen. ³⁸And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which ^cthe Lord’s tribute was threescore and twelve. ³⁹And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which ^cthe Lord’s tribute was threescore and one. ⁴⁰And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which ^cthe Lord’s tribute was thirty and two persons. ⁴¹And Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord’s heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, ^das the Lord commanded Moses. ⁴²And of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided from the men that warred, ⁴³(now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴and thirty and six thousand beeves, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand asses and five hundred, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons;) ⁴⁷even ^eof the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸And the ^fofficers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses: ⁴⁹and they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us. ⁵⁰We have therefore brought an oblation for the Lord, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, ^gchains, and ^hbracelets, rings, ⁱearrings, and ^ktablets, ^lto make an atonement for our souls before the Lord. ⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels. ⁵²And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³(For ^mthe men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, ⁿfor a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

XXXII.Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle: and when they saw the land of ^aJazer, and the land of Gilead, that behold, the place was a place for cattle; ²the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spake unto Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and unto the princes of the congregation, saying, ³Ataroth, and ^bDibon, and Jazer, and Nimrah, and Heshbon, and Elealeh, and Shebam, and ^cNebo, and Beon, ⁴even the country ^dwhich the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle, and thy servants have cattle: ⁵wherefore, said they, if we have found grace in thy sight, let this land be given unto thy servants for a possession, and bring us not over Jordan. ⁶And Moses said unto the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here? ⁷And wherefore discourage ye the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord hath given them? ⁸Thus did your fathers, ^ewhen I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹For when they went up unto ^fthe valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, that they should not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ^10gAnd the Lord’s anger was kindled the same time, and he sware, saying, ^11hSurely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, ⁱfrom twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware ^kunto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: ¹²save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the ^lKenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: ^mfor they have wholly followed the Lord. ¹³And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them ⁿwander in the wilderness forty years, until ^oall the generation, that had done evil in the sight of the Lord, was consumed. ¹⁴And behold, ye are risen up in your fathers’ stead, an increase of sinful men, to augment yet the fierce anger of the Lord toward Israel. ¹⁵For if ye ^pturn away from after him, he will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and ye shall destroy all this people. ¹⁶And they came near unto him, and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones: ¹⁷but ^qwe ourselves will go ready ^rarmed before the children of Israel, until we have brought them unto their place: and our little ones shall dwell in the fenced cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ^18sWe will not return unto our houses, until the children of Israel have inherited every man his inheritance. ¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on yonder side Jordan, or forward; ^tbecause our inheritance is fallen to us on this side Jordan eastward. ²⁰And ^uMoses said unto them, If ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, ²¹and will go all of you ^warmed over Jordan before the Lord, until he hath ^xdriven out his enemies from before him, ²²and the land be subdued before the Lord: then afterward ye shall return, and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord: and be sure ^yyour sin will find…