Numbers 31–33

Chapter 31

¹The Lord said to Moses, ²“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” ³And Moses said to the people, “Arm men from among you for the war, 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 there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and slew every male. ⁸They slew the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian; and they also slew Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and they took as booty all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰All their cities in the places where they dwelt, and all their encampments, they burned with fire, ¹¹and took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast. ¹²Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴And Moses was 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 let all the women live? ¹⁶Behold, these caused the people of Israel, by the counsel of Balaam, to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹Encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever of you has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: ²²only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp.”

²⁵The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶“Take the count of the booty that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation; ²⁷and divide the booty into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the flocks; ²⁹take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord. ³⁰And from the people of Israel’s half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³²Now the booty remaining of the spoil that the men of war took was: six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴sixty-one thousand asses, ³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶And the half, the portion of those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ³⁷and the Lord’s tribute of sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹The asses 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. ⁴¹And Moses gave the tribute, which was the offering for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴²From the people of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had gone to war— ⁴³now the congregation’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵and thirty thousand five hundred asses, ⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons— ⁴⁷from the people of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses, ⁴⁹and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰And we have brought the Lord’s offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all wrought 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 and fifty shekels. ⁵³(The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴And 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 people of Israel before the Lord.

Chapter 32

¹Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle; and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for cattle. ²So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, ³“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, ⁴the land which the Lord smote before the congregation of Israel, is a land for cattle; and your servants have cattle.” ⁵And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession; do not take us across the Jordan.”

⁶But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben, “Shall your brethren go to the war while you sit here? ⁷Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land which the Lord has given them? ⁸Thus did your fathers, when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. ⁹For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol, and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land which the Lord had given them. ¹⁰And the Lord’s anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, ¹¹‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me; ¹²none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord.’ ¹³And the Lord’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was consumed. ¹⁴And behold, you have risen in your fathers’ stead, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! ¹⁵For if you turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness; and you will destroy all this people.”

¹⁶Then they came near to him, and said, “We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks, and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷but we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place; and our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. ¹⁸We will not return to our homes until the people of Israel have inherited each his inheritance. ¹⁹For 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 will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, ²¹and every armed man of you will pass over 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 shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel; and this land shall be your possession before the Lord. ²³But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord; and be sure your sin will find you out. ²⁴Build cities for your little ones, and folds for your sheep; and do what you have promised.” ²⁵And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our flocks, and all our cattle, shall remain there in the cities of Gilead; ²⁷but your servants will pass over, every man who is armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

²⁸So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of the fathers’ houses of the…