Add parallel Print Page Options

31 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

Avenge the Bnei Yisroel of the Midyanim; afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

And Moshe spoke unto HaAm, saying, Arm some of your anashim unto war, let them go against Midyan, and avenge Hashem of Midyan.

Of every matteh a thousand, throughout kol mattot Yisroel, shall ye send to war.

So there were supplied out of the thousands of Yisroel, an elef (a thousand) of every matteh, sheneym asar elef armed for war.

And Moshe sent them to war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Pinchas Ben Eleazar HaKohen, to the war, with the kelei hakodesh, and the tzotzerot hateru’ah in his yad.

And they warred against Midyan, just, as Hashem commanded Moshe; and they slaughtered kol zachar.

And they slaughtered the Melachim of Midyan, besides the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Tzur, and Chur, and Reva, five melachim of Midyan; Balaam Ben Beor also they slaughtered with the cherev.

And the Bnei Yisroel took all the nashim of Midyan captive, and their little ones, and took the plunder of all their behemah, and all their mikneh, and all their goods.

10 And they burned with eish all their towns wherein were their moshavot, and all their camps.

11 And they took all the plunder, and all the spoil, both of adam and of behemah.

12 And they brought the captives, and the plunder, and the spoil, unto Moshe, and Eleazar HaKohen, and unto the Adat Bnei Yisroel, unto the machaneh at the plains of Moav, which are by Yarden near Yericho.

13 And Moshe, and Eleazar HaKohen, and all the nasiim of the Edah, went forth to meet them outside the machaneh.

14 And Moshe was in wrath with the pekudei hechayil (officers of the army), with the sarim over thousands, and sarim over hundreds, which were returning from the milchamah of the army.

15 And Moshe said unto them, Have ye saved all the nekevah alive?

16 Hinei, these caused the Bnei Yisroel, through the davar Balaam, to turn unfaithful against Hashem in the matter of Peor, and there was a magefah (plague) among the Adat Hashem.

17 Now therefore slaughter every zakhar among the little ones, and kill every isha that hath known ish by lying with zakhar.

18 But all the girl nashim, that have no da’as of lying with zakhar, save alive for yourselves.

19 And do ye abide outside the machaneh shivat yamim; whosoever hath killed nefesh, and whosoever hath touched any chalal, purify both yourselves and your captives on Yom HaShelishi and on Yom HaShevi’i.

20 And purify all your beged, and all keli ohr (all that is made of leather), ma’aseh izzim (all that is made of goat hair) and keli etz (all that is make of wood).

21 And Eleazar HaKohen said unto the anshei hatzavah which went into milchamah, This is the chukkat hatorah which Hashem commanded Moshe:

22 Only the zahav, and the kesef, the nechoshet, the barzel, the bedil, and the oferet,

23 Everything that can withstand eish, ye shall make it go through the eish, and it shall be tahor; nevertheless it shall be purified with the mayim of niddah; and all that can not withstand the eish ye shall make go through the mayim.

24 And ye shall wash your begadim on Yom HaShevi’i, and ye shall be tahor, and afterward ye shall come into the machaneh.

25 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,

26 Take inventory of the spoil that was taken, both of adam and of behemah, thou, and Eleazar HaKohen, and the Rashei Avot HaEdah:

27 And divide the spoil into two parts: between them that took the milchamah upon them, who went out to battle, and kol HaEdah;

28 And levy a mekhes (tribute) unto Hashem of the anshei hamilchamah which went out to battle: one nefesh from five hundred, both of adam, and of bakar, and of chamorim, and of tzon;

29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar HaKohen, for a terumat Hashem.

30 And of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of adam, of bakar, of chamorim, and of tzon, of all behemah, and give them unto the Levi’im, who are shomrei mishmeret Mishkan Hashem (who are guardians of the Mishkan Hashem).

31 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen did just as Hashem commanded Moshe.

32 And the spoil, being the rest of the plunder which the am hatzava (personnel of the army) had taken, was 675,000 tzon,

33 And 72,000 bakar,

34 And 61,000 chamorim,

35 And 32,000 nefesh adam from the nashim who had no da’as of zachar by lying with him.

36 And the half, which was the chelek of them that went out to war, was in number 337,500 tzon;

37 And the mekhes (tribute) for Hashem of the tzon was 675.

38 And the bakar were 36,000; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 72.

39 And the chamorim were 30,500; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 61.

40 And the nefesh adam were 16,000; of which the mekhes for Hashem was 32 nefesh.

41 And Moshe gave the mekhes, which was the terumat Hashem, unto Eleazar HaKohen, as Hashem commanded Moshe.

42 And of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, which Moshe divided from the anashim hatzove’im,

43 (Now the half that pertained unto the Edah was 337,500 tzon,

44 And 36,000 bakar,

45 And thirty thousand chamorim and five hundred,

46 And sixteen thousand nefesh adam);

47 Even of the Bnei Yisroel’s half, Moshe took one portion of fifty, both of adam and of behemah, and gave them unto the Levi’im, who were shomrei mishmeret Mishkan Hashem; just as Hashem commanded Moshe.

48 And the pekudim (officers) which were over thousands of the tzava (army), the sarim of thousands, and sarim of hundreds, came near unto Moshe;

49 And they said unto Moshe, Thy avadim have taken the muster census of the anshei hamilchamah which are under our charge, and there was missing not one ish of us.

50 We have therefore brought a korban Hashem, what every ish hath gotten, of articles of zahav, armlets, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make kapporah for our nefashot before Hashem.

51 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen took the zahav of them, even all wrought jewels.

52 And all the zahav of the terumah (offering) that they offered up to Hashem, of the sarim of thousands, and of the sarim of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

53 (For the anshei hatzava had taken plunder, every ish for himself.)

54 And Moshe and Eleazar HaKohen accepted the zahav of the sarim of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Ohel Mo’ed, for a zikaron (memorial) for the Bnei Yisroel before Hashem.

Vengeance on the Midianites

31 The Lord said to Moses, “Take vengeance on the Midianites(A) for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.(B)

So Moses said to the people, “Arm some of your men to go to war against the Midianites so that they may carry out the Lord’s vengeance(C) on them. Send into battle a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” So twelve thousand men armed for battle,(D) a thousand from each tribe, were supplied from the clans of Israel. Moses sent them into battle,(E) a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas(F) son of Eleazar, the priest, who took with him articles from the sanctuary(G) and the trumpets(H) for signaling.

They fought against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses,(I) and killed every man.(J) Among their victims were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba(K)—the five kings of Midian.(L) They also killed Balaam son of Beor(M) with the sword.(N) The Israelites captured the Midianite women(O) and children and took all the Midianite herds, flocks and goods as plunder.(P) 10 They burned(Q) all the towns where the Midianites had settled, as well as all their camps.(R) 11 They took all the plunder and spoils, including the people and animals,(S) 12 and brought the captives, spoils(T) and plunder to Moses and Eleazar the priest and the Israelite assembly(U) at their camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.(V)

13 Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army(W)—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

15 “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. 16 “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice(X) and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident,(Y) so that a plague(Z) struck the Lord’s people. 17 Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,(AA) 18 but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

19 “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed(AB) must stay outside the camp seven days.(AC) On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves(AD) and your captives. 20 Purify every garment(AE) as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.(AF)

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle,(AG) “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron,(AH) tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire,(AI) and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing.(AJ) And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean.(AK) Then you may come into the camp.(AL)

Dividing the Spoils

25 The Lord said to Moses, 26 “You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads(AM) of the community are to count all the people(AN) and animals that were captured.(AO) 27 Divide(AP) the spoils equally between the soldiers who took part in the battle and the rest of the community. 28 From the soldiers who fought in the battle, set apart as tribute for the Lord(AQ) one out of every five hundred, whether people, cattle, donkeys or sheep. 29 Take this tribute from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part. 30 From the Israelites’ half, select one out of every fifty, whether people, cattle, donkeys, sheep or other animals. Give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.(AR) 31 So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32 The plunder remaining from the spoils(AS) that the soldiers took was 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys 35 and 32,000 women who had never slept with a man.

36 The half share of those who fought in the battle was:

337,500 sheep, 37 of which the tribute for the Lord(AT) was 675;

38 36,000 cattle, of which the tribute for the Lord was 72;

39 30,500 donkeys, of which the tribute for the Lord was 61;

40 16,000 people, of whom the tribute for the Lord was 32.

41 Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as the Lord’s part,(AU) as the Lord commanded Moses.(AV)

42 The half belonging to the Israelites, which Moses set apart from that of the fighting men— 43 the community’s half—was 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys 46 and 16,000 people. 47 From the Israelites’ half, Moses selected one out of every fifty people and animals, as the Lord commanded him, and gave them to the Levites, who were responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.

48 Then the officers(AW) who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—went to Moses 49 and said to him, “Your servants have counted(AX) the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.(AY) 50 So we have brought as an offering to the Lord the gold articles each of us acquired—armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves(AZ) before the Lord.”

51 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them the gold—all the crafted articles. 52 All the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds that Moses and Eleazar presented as a gift to the Lord weighed 16,750 shekels.[a] 53 Each soldier had taken plunder(BA) for himself. 54 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting(BB) as a memorial(BC) for the Israelites before the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 31:52 That is, about 420 pounds or about 190 kilograms