Numbers 31–33

War against Midian

³¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”^{* 3}So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your number for the war, so that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were conscripted, twelve thousand armed for battle. ⁶Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,^s with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.^{* 7}They did battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. ⁸They killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian, in addition to others who were slain by them, and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.^{* 9}The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive, and they plundered all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰All their towns where they had settled, and all their encampments, they burned, ¹¹but they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals.^{* 12}Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Return from the War

¹³Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵Moses said to them, “Have you allowed all the women to live? ¹⁶These women here, on Balaam’s advice, made the Israelites act treacherously against the Lord in the affair of Peor, so that the plague came among the congregation of the Lord.^{* 17}Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by sleeping with him.^{* 18}But all the young girls who have not known a man by sleeping with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹Camp outside the camp seven days, whoever of you has killed any person or touched a corpse; purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third and on the seventh day. ²⁰You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: ²²gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—²³everything that can withstand fire, you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water for purification, and whatever cannot withstand fire, you shall pass through the water.^{* 24}You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; afterward you may come into the camp.”^*

Disposition of Captives and Plunder

²⁵The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁶“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the ancestral houses of the congregation make an inventory of the plunder captured, both human and animal. ²⁷Divide the plunder into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸From the share of the warriors who went out to battle, set aside as tribute for the Lord one item out of every five hundred, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, or sheep.^{* 29}Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. ³⁰But from the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty, whether persons, oxen, donkeys, or sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the tabernacle of the Lord.”^*

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

³²The plunder remaining from the spoils that the troops had taken totaled six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,^{* 33}seventy-two thousand oxen, ³⁴sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known a man by sleeping with him.

³⁶The half-share, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ³⁷and the Lord’s tribute of sheep was six hundred seventy-five.^{* 38}The oxen 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. ⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^*

⁴²As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses separated from that of the troops, ⁴³the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴thirty-six thousand oxen, ⁴⁵thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons. ⁴⁷From the Israelites’ half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded Moses.^*

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses ⁴⁹and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the warriors who are under our command, and not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each of us found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.”^{* 51}Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all in the form of crafted articles. ⁵²And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels. ⁵³(The troops had all taken plunder for themselves.)^{* 54}So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.^*

Conquest and Division of Transjordan

³²Now the Reubenites and the Gadites owned a very great number of cattle. When they saw that the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead was a good place for cattle,^{* 2}the Gadites and the Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon—⁴the land that the Lord subdued before the congregation of Israel—is a land for cattle, and your servants have cattle.” ⁵They continued, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us cross the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses said to the Gadites and to the Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you sit here? ⁷Why will you discourage the hearts of the Israelites from going over into the land that the Lord has given them?^{* 8}Your fathers did this, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.^{* 9}When they went up to the Wadi Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the hearts of the Israelites from going into the land that the Lord had given them. ¹⁰The Lord’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying,^{* 11}‘Surely none of the people who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and up, shall see the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not unreservedly followed me^*—¹²none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have unreservedly followed the Lord.’^{* 13}And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord had disappeared.^{* 14}And now you, a brood of sinners, have risen in place of your fathers, to increase the Lord’s fierce anger against Israel! ¹⁵If you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”^*

¹⁶Then they came up to him and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks and towns for our little ones, ¹⁷but we will take up arms as a vanguard^t before the Israelites, until we have brought them to their place. Meanwhile our little ones will stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land.^{* 18}We will not return to our homes until all the Israelites have obtained their inheritance.^{* 19}We will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.”^*

²⁰So Moses said to them, “If you do this—if you take up arms to go before the Lord for the war^{* 21}and all those of you who bear arms cross the Jordan before the Lord, until he has driven out his enemies from before him ²²and the land is subdued before the Lord—then after that you may return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord.^{* 23}But if you do not do this, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴Build towns for your little ones and folds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”^*

²⁵Then the Gadites and the Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our livestock shall remain there in the towns of Gilead,^{* 27}but your servants will cross over, everyone armed for war, to do battle for the Lord, just as my lord orders.”^*

²⁸So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral houses of the Israelite tribes.^{* 29}And Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and the Reubenites, everyone armed for battle before the Lord, will cross…