Numbers 31:25–54

Division of the Booty

²⁵Then the Lord 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 booty ¹that was captured, both of man and of animal;

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

²⁸“^aLevy a tax for the Lord 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 an ¹offering to the Lord.

³⁰“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 the Lord.”

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

³²Now the booty that remained from the spoil 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.

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

³⁷and the Lord’s levy of the sheep was 675;

³⁸and the cattle were 36,000, from which the Lord’s levy was 72;

³⁹and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord’s levy was 61;

⁴⁰and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Lord’s levy was 32 persons.

⁴¹Moses gave the levy which was the Lord’s offering to Eleazar the priest, just ^aas the Lord 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 charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached 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 as an offering to the Lord what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, ^ato make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”

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

⁵²All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.

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

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