Numbers 31:25–54

Division of the War-Booty

²⁵Yahweh said to Moses, saying, ²⁶“You and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the families^k of the community, take count^l of the war-booty that was captured, both humans^m and the domestic animals;^{n 27}divide the war-booty between those who engaged in the war, who went out to the battle, and all the community. ²⁸Exact a tribute for Yahweh from the men of the war, those who went out to the battle, one from five hundred persons, and from the cattle and from the male donkeys and from the flock; ²⁹take from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to Yahweh. ³⁰From half of the Israelites,^o take one share drawn by lot from the fifty from the humans,^p from the cattle, from the male donkeys, from the flock, from all the domestic animals,^q and give them to the Levites who keep the responsibilities of the tabernacle of Yahweh.” ³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

³²Thus the war-booty that remained of the plunder that the people of the battle plundered was six hundred and seventy-five thousand flocks of sheep, ³³seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴sixty-one thousand male donkeys, ³⁵and the life of humankind, from the women who did not have sexual intercourse with a man,^r all the persons^s were thirty-two thousand.

³⁶The half of the share that was going out to the battle: the number of the flock of sheep was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred; ³⁷the tribute to Yahweh from the flock was six hundred and seventy-five; ³⁸and the cattle were thirty-six thousand; and the tribute to Yahweh was seventy-two. ³⁹Of the male donkeys there were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute to Yahweh was sixty-one; ⁴⁰the humans^t were sixteen thousand, and the tribute to Yahweh was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹And Moses gave away the tribute of the contribution of Yahweh to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

⁴²From the half of the Israelites,^u which Moses divided from the men who were fighting, ⁴³the half that belonged to the community was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred from the flock, ⁴⁴and thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand five hundred male donkeys, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand humans.^{v 47}From the half that belonged to the Israelites,^w Moses took one share drawn by lot out of every fifty humans^x and domestic animals, and he gave them to the Levites, who keep the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the leaders of the thousands of the army, the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, approached Moses, ⁴⁹and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken count^y of the men of war who were in our charge,^z and no man is missing from us. ⁵⁰So we brought the offering of Yahweh, what each man found, objects of gold, bangles,^a bracelets,^b rings,^c earrings,^d and female ornaments,^e to make atonement for ourselves before^f Yahweh.” ⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all objects of work. ⁵²All the gold of the contribution that they raised up to Yahweh, from the commanders of the thousands and the commanders of the hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³The men of battle plundered each for himself. ⁵⁴So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of the thousands and hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of the assembly as a memorial for the Israelites^g before Yahweh.