Numbers 31
Passed Through the Fire and Through the Water
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Mobilization of Troops
31:1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
31:2“Exact vengeance for the Israelites from the Midianites. Finally you shall be added to your people.”
31:3Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Equip men from among you to draw up for battle before the Lord against Midian, to repay Midian with vengeance from the Lord.
31:4Send a thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes of Israel, to draw up for battle.”
31:5They counted out a thousand from each tribe from the thousands of Israel: twelve thousand equipped for battle.
The Battle and the Captives
31:6Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, with their force and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, with the sacred vessels and the signaling trumpets in their hands.
31:7They drew up for battle against Midian, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male.
31:8They killed the kings of Midian together with their slain: Evi, Zur, Rekem, Hur, and Robok, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword together with their slain.
31:9They took the women of Midian and their dependents as spoil, and plundered their livestock, all their possessions, and their resources.
31:10They burned all their towns in their settlements and their farmsteads with fire.
31:11They took all the plunder and all their spoils, from people to livestock,
31:12and brought the captives, the spoils, and the plunder to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the Israelites, at the camp at Araboth Moab, which is on the Jordan opposite Jericho.
31:13Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the rulers of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.
Moses’ Command
31:14Moses was angry with the overseers of the force, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds who were returning from the battle formation,
31:15and Moses said to them, “Why have you taken every female alive?
31:16For these women, according to Balaam’s word, caused the Israelites to turn away and disregard the Lord’s word because of Peor, and the plague came upon the Lord’s congregation.
31:17Now kill every male among all the dependents, and kill every woman who has known a male’s bed.
31:18Take alive all the female dependents who have not known a male’s bed.
Purification Rituals
31:19You shall camp outside the camp for seven days. Everyone who killed someone or touches someone slain shall be purified on the third day and the seventh day, both you and your captives.
31:20You shall thoroughly purify every covering, every leather article, every object made from goats’ material, and every wooden article.”
31:21Eleazar the priest said to the men of the force who were returning from the battle formation, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord prescribed to Moses:
31:22Except for the gold, silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin—
31:23everything that passes through fire shall also be cleansed, but it shall be purified with the water of purification. Everything that does not pass through fire shall pass through water.
31:24You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be cleansed; afterward you may enter the camp.”
Divine Command for Division of Plunder
31:25The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
31:26“Take a total of the spoils of captivity, from people to livestock—you, Eleazar the priest, and the rulers of the congregation’s ancestral houses.
31:27Divide the spoils between the warriors who went out to battle and the whole congregation.
31:28Set aside a levy for the Lord from the warriors who went out to battle: one living being out of every five hundred, from the people, livestock, cattle, sheep, and goats.
31:29Take it from their half and give the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest.
31:30From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, from the people, cattle, sheep, donkeys, and all livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep the watches in the Lord’s tent.”
31:31Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
Accounting and Division of the Spoil
31:32The surplus of the plunder that the warriors had taken was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,
31:33seventy-two thousand cattle,
31:34sixty-one thousand donkeys,
31:35and thirty-two thousand human beings in all, from the women who had not known a man’s bed.
31:36The half-share belonging to those who went out to war numbered three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
31:37and the levy for the Lord from the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.
31:38The cattle numbered thirty-six thousand, and the levy for the Lord was seventy-two.
31:39The donkeys numbered thirty thousand five hundred, and the levy for the Lord was sixty-one.
31:40The human beings numbered sixteen thousand, and their levy for the Lord was thirty-two persons.
31:41Moses gave the levy for the Lord, God’s contribution, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
31:42From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had separated from the warriors—
31:43the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
31:44thirty-six thousand cattle,
31:45thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
31:46and sixteen thousand human beings—
31:47Moses took one out of every fifty, from the people and livestock, and gave them to the Levites who kept the watches of the Lord’s tent, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
The Officers’ Offering
31:48All those appointed over the army’s units of a thousand, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moses.
31:49They said to Moses, “Your servants have totaled the warriors in our company, and not even one of them is missing.
31:50We have brought the gift to the Lord, each man whatever gold article he found—armlets, bracelets, rings, wrist ornaments, and hair ornaments—to make propitiation for us before the Lord.”
31:51Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, every article worked by hand.
31:52All the gold, the contribution that they set aside for the Lord from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.
31:53The warriors had taken plunder, each for himself.
31:54Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Testimony as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.