Numbers 31–33

WAR WITH MIDIAN

31The Lord spoke to Moses, ²“Execute vengeance for the Israelites against the Midianites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”^d

³So Moses spoke to the people, “Equip some of your men for war. They will go against Midian to inflict the Lord’s vengeance^e on them. ⁴Send one thousand men to war from each Israelite tribe.” ⁵So one thousand were recruited from each Israelite tribe out of the thousands^B in Israel—twelve thousand equipped for war. ⁶Moses sent one thousand from each tribe to war. They went with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, in whose care were the holy objects and signal trumpets.

⁷They waged war against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male.^{f 8}Along with the others slain by them, they killed the Midianite kings—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian.^a They also killed Balaam son of Beor^b with the sword. ⁹The Israelites took the Midianite women and their dependents captive, and they plundered all their cattle, flocks, and property.^{c 10}Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites lived, as well as all their encampments, ¹¹and took away all the spoils of war and the captives, both people and animals. ¹²They brought the prisoners, animals, and spoils of war to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the Israelite community at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹³Moses, the priest Eleazar, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴But Moses became furious with the officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. ¹⁵“Have you let every female live?” he asked them. ¹⁶“Yet they are the ones who, at Balaam’s advice, incited the Israelites to unfaithfulness against the Lord in the Peor incident, so that the plague came against the Lord’s community.^{d 17}So now, kill every male among the dependents and kill every woman who has gone to bed with a man,^{e 18}but keep alive for yourselves all the young females who have not gone to bed with a man.^f

¹⁹“You are to remain outside the camp for seven days. All of you and your prisoners who have killed a person or touched the dead are to purify yourselves on the third day and the seventh day.^{g 20}Also purify everything: garments, leather goods, things made of goat hair, and every article of wood.”^h

²¹Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the legal statute the Lord commanded Moses: ²²The gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—²³everything that can withstand fire—you are to pass through fire, and it will be clean. It must still be purified with the purification water.ⁱ Anything that cannot withstand fire, pass through the water. ²⁴On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean.^j After that you may enter the camp.”

²⁵The Lord told Moses, ²⁶“You, the priest Eleazar, and the family heads of the community are to take a count of what was captured, people and animals. ²⁷Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to war and the entire community.^{k 28}Set aside a tribute for the Lord from what belongs to the fighting men who went out to war: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats. ²⁹Take the tribute from their half and give it to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty from the people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats, all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who perform the duties of^A the Lord’s tabernacle.”

³¹So Moses and the priest Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses. ³²The captives remaining from the plunder the army had taken totaled:

675,000 sheep and goats,

³³72,000 cattle,

³⁴61,000 donkeys,

³⁵and 32,000 people, all the females who had not gone to bed with a man.

³⁶The half portion for those who went out to war numbered:

337,500 sheep and goats,

³⁷and the tribute to the Lord was 675

from the sheep and goats;

³⁸from the 36,000 cattle,

the tribute to the Lord was 72;

³⁹from the 30,500 donkeys,

the tribute to the Lord was 61;

⁴⁰and from the 16,000 people,

the tribute to the Lord was 32 people.

⁴¹Moses gave the tribute to the priest Eleazar as a contribution for the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴²From the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from the men who fought, ⁴³the community’s half was:

337,500 sheep and goats,

⁴⁴36,000 cattle,

⁴⁵30,500 donkeys,

⁴⁶and 16,000 people.

⁴⁷Moses took one out of every fifty, selected from the people and the livestock of the Israelites’ half. He gave them to the Levites who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, as the Lord had commanded him.

⁴⁸The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, approached Moses ⁴⁹and told him, “Your servants have taken a census of the fighting men under our command, and not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰So we have presented to the Lord an offering of the gold articles each man found—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”^a

⁵¹Moses and the priest Eleazar received from them all the articles made out of gold. ⁵²All the gold of the contribution they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, was 420 pounds.^{A 53}Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.^{b 54}Moses and the priest Eleazar 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.

TRANSJORDAN SETTLEMENTS

32The Reubenites and Gadites had a very large number of livestock. When they surveyed the lands of Jazer^c and Gilead, they saw that the region was a good one for livestock. ²So the Gadites and Reubenites came to Moses, the priest Eleazar, and the leaders of the community and said, ³“The territory of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,^{d 4}which the Lord struck down^e before the community of Israel,^f is good land for livestock, and your servants own livestock.” ⁵They said, “If we have found favor with you, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Don’t make us cross the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses asked the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your brothers go to war while you stay here? ⁷Why are you discouraging the Israelites from crossing into the land the Lord has given them? ⁸That’s what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.^{g 9}After they went up as far as Eshcol Valley and saw the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. ¹⁰So the Lord’s anger burned that day, and he swore an oath:^{h 11}‘Because they did not remain loyal to me,ⁱ none of the men twenty years old or more who came up from Egypt will see the land I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob^j—¹²none except Caleb^k son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua^l son of Nun, because they did remain loyal to the Lord.’ ¹³The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years until the whole generation that had done what was evil in the Lord’s sight was gone.^{m 14}And here you, a brood of sinners, stand in your ancestors’ place adding even more to the Lord’s burning anger against Israel. ¹⁵If you turn back from following him,ⁿ he will once again leave this people in the wilderness, and you will destroy all of them.”

¹⁶Then they approached him and said, “We want to build sheep pens here for our livestock and cities for our dependents. ¹⁷But we will arm ourselves and be ready to go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them into their place.^o Meanwhile, our dependents will remain in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸We will not return to our homes until each of the Israelites has taken possession of his inheritance.^{p 19}Yet we will not have an inheritance with them across the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance will be across the Jordan to the east.”^q

²⁰Moses replied to them, “If you do this—if you arm yourselves for battle before the Lord, ²¹and every one of your armed men crosses the Jordan before the Lord until he has driven his enemies from his presence, ²²and the land is subdued before the Lord—afterward you may return and be free from obligation to the Lord and to Israel. And this land will belong to you as a possession before the Lord. ²³But if you don’t do this, you will certainly sin against the Lord; be sure your sin will catch up with you. ²⁴Build cities for your dependents and pens for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”^r

²⁵The Gadites and Reubenites answered Moses, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands. ²⁶Our dependents, wives, livestock, and all our animals will remain here in the cities of Gilead, ²⁷but your servants are equipped for war before the Lord and will go across to the battle as my lord orders.”

²⁸So Moses gave orders about them to the priest Eleazar, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes. ²⁹Moses told them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man in battle formation before the Lord, and the land is subdued before you, you are to give them the land of Gilead as a possession.^{s 30}But if they don’t go across with you in battle formation, they must accept land in Canaan with you.”

³¹The Gadites and Reubenites replied, “What the Lord has spoken to your servants is what we will do. ³²We will cross over in battle formation before the Lord into the land of Canaan, but we will keep our hereditary possession across the Jordan.”

³³So Moses gave them—the Gadites, Reubenites, and half the tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph—the kingdom of King Sihon of the Amorites and the kingdom of King Og of Bashan, the land including its cities with the territories surrounding them.^{a 34}The Gadites rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ³⁵…