Numbers 31

1Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2Take vengeance on the Midianites for the sons of Israel. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.

3Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for the army, and let them attack Midian to exact Yahweh's vengeance on Midian."

4Send a thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes of Israel, to the army.

5From Israel's thousands, one thousand per tribe were supplied, twelve thousand armed troops.

6Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

7They made war against Midian, just as Yahweh commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8They killed the kings of Midian along with their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their little ones, and they plundered all their livestock, all their flocks, and all their goods.

10They burned all their cities in their dwelling places and all their habitations with fire.

11They took all the spoil and all the prey, both human and animal.

12They brought the captives, the booty, and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of Israel's sons, to the camp on the plains of Moab, which lie alongside the Jordan at Jericho.

13Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.

14Moses became angry with the army's commanders, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, who came from the battle host.

15Moses said to them, "Have you kept all the women alive?"

16Look, these led Israel's sons, through Balaam's counsel, to trespass against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, and the plague struck the congregation of Yahweh.

17Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with a male.

18But keep alive for yourselves all the little girls among the women who have not known lying with a male.

19Stay outside the camp seven days—whoever killed a person and whoever touched a slain must cleanse yourselves and your captives on the third day and the seventh day.

20You shall purify every garment, every leather article, every goats'-hair work, and every wooden article.

21Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who went to the battle, "This is the statute of the law that Yahweh commanded Moses:"

22Only gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead.

23Every thing that may endure the fire, you shall make pass through the fire, and it will be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of impurity, and all that does not endure the fire, you shall make pass through the water.

24Wash your garments on the seventh day, and you will be clean; afterward come into the camp.

25Yahweh said to Moses, saying,

26Take the count of the captive plunder, both people and livestock, you, Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation.

27And divide the prey in half between those grasping the war—who went out to the army—and all the congregation.

28Raise a tribute to Yahweh from the warriors who went out to the army: one person out of every five hundred, from people, oxen, donkeys, and flocks.

29From their half take it and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to Yahweh.

30From the Israelites' half, take one portion from every fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flocks, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of Yahweh's tabernacle.

31Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh commanded Moses.

32The prey, the excess of the spoil plundered by the men of the army, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep.

33and seventy-two thousand cattle,

34and sixty-one thousand donkeys

35and thirty-two thousand persons altogether from the women who had not known the bed of a male.

36The half portion belonging to those who went out with the army—the sheep count—was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

37And the tribute to Yahweh from the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

38The cattle numbered thirty-six thousand, and their tribute to Yahweh was seventy-two.

39The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, and their tribute to Yahweh was sixty-one.

40And the persons totaled sixteen thousand, their tribute to Yahweh thirty-two persons.

41Moses gave the tribute, Yahweh's heave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

42From the half of the children of Israel that Moses separated from the men who went to war.

43The congregation's half of the sheep was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred.

44and thirty-six thousand cattle,

45and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

46and sixteen thousand human souls,

47Moses took one taken from every fifty out of the Israelites' half—both from people and livestock—and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of Yahweh's tabernacle, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

48The officers appointed over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, approached Moses.

49They said to Moses, "Your servants have numbered the fighting men under us, and no man among us is missing."

50We have brought Yahweh's offering, what each man obtained of gold articles—anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants—to make atonement for our souls before Yahweh.

51Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the crafted vessels.

52All the gold of the offering they raised up to Yahweh from the captains of thousands and from the captains of hundreds was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.

53The men of the army had plundered, each man for himself.

54Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.