Numbers 31 - 32
Vengeance on Midian
31Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“aTake full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be bgathered to your people.” 3And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may 1go against Midian to execute aYahweh’s vengeance on Midian. 4“One thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5So there were 1furnished from the thousands of Israel, one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6And Moses sent them, one thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, aand the holy vessels and bthe trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7So they made war against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and athey killed every male. 8They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: aEvi and Rekem and bZur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed cBalaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9And the sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11aAnd they took all the spoil and all the loot, both of man and of beast. 12And they brought the captives and the loot and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
13And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out 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. 15So Moses said to them, “Have you 1spared aall the women? 16“aBehold, these 1caused the sons of Israel, through the word of bBalaam, to 2act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 17“aSo now, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man 1intimately. 18“But all the 1girls who have not known man 2intimately, 3spare for yourselves. 19“aAnd you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20“And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of 1leather and all the work of goats’ hair and all articles of wood.”
21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: 22only the gold and 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, but it shall be purified with awater for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24“And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”
Division of the Loot
25Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the loot 1that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27and adivide the loot between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28“aAnd you shall exact a levy for Yahweh from the men of war who went out to battle, one 1in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as a 1contribution to Yahweh. 30“And from the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who akeep charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.” 31Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
32Now the loot that remained from the plunder which the 1men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33and 72,000 cattle, 34and 61,000 donkeys, 35and of human beings, of the women who had not known man 1intimately, all the persons were 32,000.
36And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500; 37and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675; 38and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72; 39and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61; 40and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons. 41And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just aas Yahweh had commanded Moses.
42As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses 1separated from the men who had gone to war— 43now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44and 36,000 cattle, 45and 30,500 donkeys, 46and the human beings were 16,000— 47and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.
48Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses, 49and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50“So we have brought near as an offering to Yahweh what each man found—articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—ato make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh.” 51And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of crafted articles. 52And all the gold from the contribution offering which they raised up in offering to Yahweh, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 1shekels. 53aThe men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself. 54So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of meeting as aa memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.
Reuben and Gad Possess Gilead
32Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an aexceedingly large number of livestock. And they saw the land of bJazer and the land of Gilead, that 1it was indeed a place suitable for livestock, 2so the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation, saying, 3“aAtaroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon, 4the land, awhich Yahweh struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” 5And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants as 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 brothers go to war while you yourselves sit here? 7“aNow why are you 1discouraging the sons of Israel from crossing over into the land which Yahweh has given them? 8“1This is what your fathers did when I sent them from aKadesh-barnea to see the land. 9“Indeed they went up to athe 1valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they 2discouraged the sons of Israel so that they did not go into the land which Yahweh had given them. 10“So aYahweh’s anger burned in that day, and He swore an oath, saying, 11‘aNone of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; for they did not follow Me fully, 12except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, afor they have followed Yahweh fully.’ 13“aSo Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the entire generation of those who had done evil in the sight of Yahweh was brought to an end. 14“Now behold, you have risen up in your fathers’ place, a brood of sinful men, to add still more to the burning aanger of Yahweh against Israel. 15“For if you aturn away from following Him, He will once more abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all these people.”
16Then they came near to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our livestock and cities for our little ones; 17abut we ourselves will be armed ready to go before the sons of Israel, until we have brought them to their place, and our little ones live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18“aWe will not return to our homes until every one of the sons of Israel has possessed his inheritance. 19“For we will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond because our inheritance has fallen to us aon this side of the Jordan east.”
20aSo Moses said to them, “If you will do 1this, if you will arm yourselves before Yahweh for the war, 21and all of you armed men cross over the Jordan before Yahweh until He has dispossessed His enemies from before Him, 22aand the land is subdued before Yahweh, then afterward you shall return and be free of obligation toward Yahweh and toward Israel, and this land shall be yours for a possession before Yahweh. 23“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against Yahweh, and be sure ayour sin will find you out. 24“Build yourselves cities for your little ones and sheepfolds for your sheep, and ado 1what you have promised.”
25And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, “Your servants will do just as my lord commands. 26“aOur little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall 1remain there in the cities of Gilead; 27but your servants, everyone who is armed for war, will across over in the presence of Yahweh to battle, just as my lord says.”
28So Moses gave a command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers’ households of the tribes of the sons of Israel. 29And Moses said to them, “If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben, everyone who is armed for battle, will cross with you over the Jordan in the presence of Yahweh, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession; 30but if they will not cross over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” 31And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered, saying, “As Yahweh has said to your servants, so we will do. 32“We ourselves will cross over armed in the presence of Yahweh into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us across the Jordan.”
33aSo Moses gave to them, to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Joseph’s son Manasseh, the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og, the king of Bashan, the land with its cities with their 1territories, the cities of the surrounding land. 34And the sons of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and aAroer, 35and Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah, 36and aBeth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and sheepfolds for sheep. 37And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim, 38and aNebo and Baal-meon—their names being changed—and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built. 39And the sons of aMachir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40So Moses gave aGilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he lived in it. 41And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its 1towns and called them 2,aHavvoth-jair. 42And Nobah went and took Kenath and its towns and called it Nobah after ahis own name.