Numbers 31:25–54

Division of the Loot

²⁵Then Yahweh 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 loot ¹that was captured, both of man and of animal;

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

²⁸“^aAnd you shall exact a levy for Yahweh 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;

²⁹take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as a ¹contribution to Yahweh.

³⁰“And 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 Yahweh.”

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

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

³³and 72,000 cattle,

³⁴and 61,000 donkeys,

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

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

³⁷and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675;

³⁸and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72;

³⁹and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61;

⁴⁰and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons.

⁴¹And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just ^aas Yahweh had commanded Moses.

⁴²As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses ¹separated from the men who had gone to war—

⁴³now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep,

⁴⁴and 36,000 cattle,

⁴⁵and 30,500 donkeys,

⁴⁶and the human beings were 16,000—

⁴⁷and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses,

⁴⁹and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing.

⁵⁰“So we have brought near as an offering to Yahweh what each man found—articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—^ato make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh.”

⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of crafted articles.

⁵²And all the gold from the contribution offering which they raised up in offering to Yahweh, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 ¹shekels.

^53aThe men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself.

⁵⁴So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of meeting as ^aa memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.