Numbers 29–31

Offers for the Seventh Month

29“ ‘On the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you will have a holy convocation; you will not do any regular work.^a It will be a day for you of blowing trumpets. ²You will offer a burnt offering as a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs in their first year;^b they will be without defect. ³Their grain offering will be finely milled flour mixed with oil: three-tenths for the bull, two-tenths for the ram; ⁴and one-tenth for each of the seven male lambs; ⁵with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you, ⁶in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering, the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their libations, according to their stipulations, as a fragrance of appeasement by fire for Yahweh.

Offerings for the Day of Atonement

⁷“ ‘And on the tenth of this seventh month you will have a holy convocation, and you will afflict yourselves;^c you will not do any work. ⁸You will present a burnt offering for Yahweh, a fragrance of appeasement: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs in their first year;^d they will be without defect. ⁹And their grain offering will be of finely milled flour mixed with oil: three-tenths for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, ¹⁰one-tenth for each of the seven male lambs; ¹¹one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their libations.

¹²“ ‘Then on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will have a holy convocation; you will not do any regular work,^e and you will hold a religious feast for Yahweh for seven days. ¹³You will present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh: thirteen bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year;^f they will be without defect. ¹⁴And their grain offering will be of finely milled flour mixed with oil: three-tenths for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, ¹⁵one-tenth for each of the seven male lambs; ¹⁶and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

¹⁷“ ‘On the second day: twelve bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year;^g they will be without defect; ¹⁸and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs, by their number according to the stipulation; ¹⁹and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their libations.

²⁰“ ‘On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs without defect in their first year;^{h 21}and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs, by their number according to the stipulation; ²²and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

²³“ ‘On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs without defect in their first year;^{i 24}and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ²⁵and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

²⁶“ ‘On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs without defect in their first year;^{j 27}and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ²⁸and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

²⁹“ ‘On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs without defect in their first year;^k and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ³⁰and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ³¹and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

³²“ ‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs without defect in their first year;^{l 33}and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ³⁴and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

³⁵“ ‘On the eighth day you will have an assembly; you will not do any regular work.^{m 36}You will present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a fragrance of appeasement for Yahweh: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs without defect in their first year;^{n 37}and their grain offering and their libations for the bulls, for the rams, and for the male lambs by their number according to the stipulation; ³⁸and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its libation.

³⁹“ ‘You will present these to Yahweh at your appointed time, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings and for your grain offerings and for your libations and for your fellowship offerings.’ ”

^40o So Moses said to the Israelites^p in accordance with all that Yahweh commanded Moses.

Laws for Vows

30Then Moses spoke to the leaders^a of the tribes concerning the Israelites,^b saying, “This is the word that Yahweh commanded: ²if a man makes a vow for Yahweh or swears an oath with a binding pledge on himself, he must not render his word invalid; he must do all that went out from his mouth.

³“If a woman makes a vow to Yahweh, and she binds a pledge on herself in her father’s house in your childhood, ⁴but if her father hears her vow or her pledge that she bound on herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge that she binds on her life will stand. ⁵If her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, all her vows or her pledges that she bound on herself will not stand, and Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forgiven her.

⁶“If she has a husband^c while bound by her vows or a rash promise of her lips, ⁷and her husband hears of it and is silent on the day he hears it, her vows will stand, and her pledge that she bound upon herself will stand. ⁸But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he will nullify her vow that she is under, and the rash promise of her lips that she bound on herself; and Yahweh will forgive her.

⁹“But the vow of a widow or a woman who is divorced, all that she binds on herself will stand on her. ¹⁰But if she made a vow in her husband’s house, or bound herself on a pledge with a sworn oath, ¹¹and her husband heard it but was silent to her, and he did not forbid her, all her vows will stand and every pledge that she bound on herself will stand. ¹²But if her husband nullified them on the day he hears them, all her vows going out of her lips concerning her vows or the pledge on herself will not stand; her husband has nullified them, and Yahweh will forgive her.

¹³“Any vow and any sworn oath of a pledge to inflict on herself, her husband can confirm it or her husband can nullify it. ¹⁴But if her husband is completely silent from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her pledges that are on her; he confirms them because he was silent to her on the day he heard them. ¹⁵But if he indeed nullifies them after he hears them, then he will bear her guilt.”

¹⁶These are the decrees that Yahweh commanded Moses, as between a husband and his wife, and between a father and his daughter, while her childhood is in her father’s house.

War Against the Midianites

31Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Seek vengeance for the Israelites^a on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” ³Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm yourself from among your men for the battle, so that they will go^b against Midian to mete out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian. ⁴A thousand from each tribe of every tribe of Israel you will send to battle.” ⁵So they were assigned from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand equipped for battle. ⁶Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the battle, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the battle with them, and the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets of the blast were in his hand. ⁷And they fought against Midian just as Yahweh commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ⁸They killed the kings of Midian in addition to the ones they had slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam son of Beor by the sword. ⁹The Israelites^c took captive the women of Midian and their children, and they plundered all their domestic animals and all their livestock and all their wealth. ¹⁰They burned all their cities where they dwelled and all their camps with fire. ¹¹They took all the plunder and all the war-booty with the humans^d and domestic animals.^{e 12}They brought the captives, the war-booty, and the plunder to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the community of the Israelites,^f to the camp to the desert-plateau of Moab, which was on the Jordan across Jericho.

¹³And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴But Moses was angry toward the leaders of the troops, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, who came from the battle of the war. ¹⁵And Moses said to them, “You have kept alive every female? ¹⁶Behold, these women caused^g the Israelites,^h by the word of Balaam, to be in apostasy against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so that the plague was among the community of Yahweh. ¹⁷Now kill every male among the little children, and kill…