Numbers 31–33

Vengeance on the Midianites

31And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^2a“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall ^bbe gathered to your people.”

³So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on ^cMidian. ⁴A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”

⁵So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and ^dthe signal trumpets in his hand. ⁷And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^ethey killed all the ^fmales. ⁸They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—^gEvi, Rekem, ^hZur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. ⁱBalaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

⁹And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. ¹¹And ^jthey took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast.

Return from the War

¹²Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ¹³And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

¹⁵And Moses said to them: “Have you kept ^kall the women alive? ¹⁶Look, ^lthese women caused the children of Israel, through the ^mcounsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and ⁿthere was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷Now therefore, ^okill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. ¹⁸But keep alive ^pfor yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately. ¹⁹And as for you, ^qremain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and ^rwhoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

²¹Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ¹ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: ²²“Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified ^swith the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. ^24tAnd you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”

Division of the Plunder

²⁵Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶“Count up the plunder that was ²taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; ²⁷and ^udivide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸And levy a ³tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: ^vone of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; ²⁹take it from their half, and ^wgive it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. ³⁰And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take ^xone of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites ^ywho ⁴keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³²The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. ³⁶And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; ³⁷and the Lord’s ⁵tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, ^zas the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴²And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought—⁴³now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons—⁴⁷and ^afrom the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; ⁴⁹and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. ⁵⁰Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, ^bto make ⁶atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. ⁵²And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ^53c(The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting ^das a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

The Tribes Settling East of the Jordan

32Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great multitude of livestock; and when they saw the land of ^aJazer and the land of ^bGilead, that indeed the region was a place for livestock, ²the children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, ^cNimrah, ^dHeshbon, Elealeh, ^eShebam, Nebo, and ^fBeon, ⁴the country ^gwhich the Lord defeated before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” ⁵Therefore they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not take us over the Jordan.”

⁶And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben: “Shall your brethren go to war while you sit here? ⁷Now why will you ^hdiscourage the heart of the children of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸Thus your fathers did ⁱwhen I sent them away from Kadesh Barnea ^jto see the land. ⁹For ^kwhen they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel, so that they did not go into the land which the Lord had given them. ^10lSo the Lord’s anger was aroused on that day, and He swore an oath, saying, ¹¹‘Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, ^mfrom twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because ⁿthey have not wholly followed Me, ¹²except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, ^ofor they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them ^pwander in the wilderness forty years, until ^qall the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. ¹⁴And look! You have risen in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the ^rfierce anger of the Lord against Israel. ¹⁵For if you ^sturn away from following Him, He will once again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”

¹⁶Then they came near to him and said: “We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷but ^twe ourselves will be armed, ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones will dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ^18uWe will not return to our homes until every one of the children of Israel has ¹received his inheritance. ¹⁹For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, ^vbecause our inheritance has fallen to us on this eastern side of the Jordan.”

²⁰Then ^wMoses said to them: “If you do this thing, if you arm yourselves before the Lord for the war, ²¹and all your armed men cross over the Jordan before the Lord until He has driven out His enemies from before Him, ²²and ^xthe land is subdued before the Lord, then afterward ^yyou may return and be blameless before the Lord and before Israel; and ^zthis land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure ^ayour sin will find you out. ^24bBuild cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do ²what has proceeded out of your mouth.”

²⁵And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying: “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ^26cOur little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all…