Chapter 31

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Avenge the children of Israel upon the Midianites; afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy peoples.

And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from amongst you men for military service, that they go against Midian to execute Jehovah's vengeance upon Midian.

Of every tribe a thousand, of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.

And there were levied out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand by tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand by the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm-trumpets in his hand.

And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and slew all the males.

And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the others slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took for a spoil all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods;

and all their cities in their settlements and all their encampments they burned with fire.

And they took all the booty, and all the prey, of man and of cattle;

and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly went forth to meet them outside the camp.

And Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, with the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war;

and Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

Lo, these, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to commit sin against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague on the assembly of Jehovah.

And now slay every male among the little ones, and slay every woman that hath known man by lying with him,

but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

And encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever hath killed a person, and whoever hath touched any slain; ye shall purify yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

And every garment, and every vessel of skin, and all work of goat's hair, and every utensil of wood shall ye purify.

And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Only the gold, and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it shall be purified with the water of separation; and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water.

And ye shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterwards ye may come into the camp.

And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Take the sum of the prey that was taken, of man and of cattle, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the assembly;

and divide the prey into halves, between them that conducted the war, who went out to the battle, and the whole assembly.

And thou shalt levy a tribute for Jehovah of the men of war who went out to the army, one soul of five hundred of the persons, and of the oxen, and of the asses, and of the small cattle.

Of their half shall ye take it, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for a heave-offering of Jehovah.

And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the small cattle, of every [kind of] beasts, and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

And the prey, the rest of the spoil, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

and seventy-two thousand oxen,

and sixty-one thousand asses,

and of human persons, of the women that had not known lying with a man, all the persons were thirty-two thousand.

And the half, the portion of them that had gone out to the war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

and the tribute for Jehovah of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five;

and the oxen were thirty-six thousand, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, seventy-two;

and the asses were thirty thousand five hundred, and the tribute thereof for Jehovah, sixty-one;

and the human persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the tribute for Jehovah was thirty-two persons.

And Moses gave the tribute of Jehovah's heave-offering to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had divided, [taking it] from the men that served in the war,

(now the half belonging to the assembly was of the sheep, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred,

and thirty-six thousand oxen,

and thirty thousand five hundred asses,

and sixteen thousand human persons,)

... of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, of man and of cattle, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

And the officers who were over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses,

and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who were under our hand, and there is not one man of us lacking.

So we present the offering of Jehovah, that which each one hath found, jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, all manner of wrought jewels.

And all the gold of the heave-offering that they offered to Jehovah was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.

(The men of war had taken spoil each one for himself.)

And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah.