Numbers 31

31 ¹ Our Father said to Moses,

Israel Goes to War

² "Bring justice for the people of Israel against the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people."

³ So Moses spoke to the people: "Arm some of your men for war, so they can go against Midian to carry out our Father's justice on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war." ⁵ So from the thousands of Israel a thousand were provided from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who carried the sacred articles of the sanctuary and the signal trumpets in his hand.

⁷ They waged war against Midian, as our Father had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. ⁸ Among those they killed were the kings of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian—and they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ The people of Israel took the women of Midian and their children captive, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ They burned with fire all the cities where they lived and all their camps, ¹¹ and they took all the spoil and all the plunder, both people and animals.

¹² Then they brought the captives, the plunder, 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 across from Jericho. ¹³ Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.

¹⁴ But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had returned from the campaign. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶ Look, these women were the ones who, on Balaam's advice, led the people of Israel to be unfaithful to our Father in the incident at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of our Father. ¹ 1 v16 The Peor incident: Israelite men were seduced into Baal worship and immorality, bringing a deadly plague on the camp (see Numbers 25). ¹⁷ Now then, kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who has slept with a man. ¹⁸ But keep alive for yourselves every young girl who has not slept with a man.

¹⁹ Stay outside the camp for seven days. Anyone who has killed a person or touched any of the dead must purify themselves on the third day and on the seventh day — both you and your captives. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment, every article of leather, everything made of goats' hair, and every article of wood."

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who had gone into battle, "This is the statute of the law that our Father commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead— ²³ everything that can withstand fire you shall pass through the fire, and it will be clean. Still, it must also be purified with the water of purification. And whatever cannot withstand fire you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes, and you will be clean; afterward you may come into the camp."

Counting the Plunder

²⁵ Our Father said to Moses,

How the Spoils Were Divided

²⁶ "You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, take a count of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals, ²⁷ and divide the plunder into two parts, between the warriors who went out to battle and the whole congregation. ²⁸ From the warriors who went out to battle, levy a tribute for me: one out of every five hundred—of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flocks. ²⁹ Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to me. ³⁰ And from the Israelites' half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty—of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, the flocks, all the animals—and give them to the Levites who keep charge of my tabernacle."

³¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest did as our Father had commanded Moses.

³² The plunder remaining from the spoil that the army had taken was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all—the women who had not slept with a man.

³⁶ The half belonging to those who had gone out to war numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ and the tribute to our Father from the sheep was 675. ³⁸ The cattle were 36,000, of which the tribute to our Father was 72. ³⁹ The donkeys were 30,500, of which the tribute to our Father was 61. ⁴⁰ The persons were 16,000, of which the tribute to our Father was 32. ⁴¹ Moses gave the tribute, the contribution for our Father, to Eleazar the priest, as our Father had commanded Moses.

⁴² As for the Israelites' half, which Moses had set apart from that of the men who fought— ⁴³ the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons— ⁴⁷ from the Israelites' half Moses took one out of every fifty, both people and animals, and gave them to the Levites who are in charge of our Father's tabernacle, as our Father had commanded Moses.

A Gift from the Officers

⁴⁸ Then the officers who were over the units of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses ⁴⁹ and said to him, "Your servants have counted the men of war under our command, and not one man of us is missing. ⁵⁰ So we have brought an offering to our Father—each man what he found, articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads—to make atonement for ourselves before our Father."

⁵¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all the crafted articles. ⁵² All the gold of the contribution that they presented to our Father, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came to about 420 pounds. ⁵³ The men of war had each taken plunder for himself. ⁵⁴ 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 reminder for the people of Israel before our Father.