Numbers 25:6-31:54

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Zeal of Phinehas. ⁶ At this a certain Israelite came and brought in a Midianite woman^[a] to his kindred in the view of Moses and of the whole Israelite community, while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^7 (A)When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw this, he rose up from the assembly, and taking a spear in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israelite into the tent where he pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman. Thus the plague upon the Israelites was checked; ⁹ but the dead from the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses: ¹¹ Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned my anger from the Israelites by his being as jealous among them as I am; that is why I did not put an end to the Israelites in my jealousy.^{[b] 12 (B)}Announce, therefore, that I hereby give him my covenant of peace,^{[c] 13} which shall be for him and for his descendants after him the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous on behalf of his God and thus made expiation for the Israelites.

^14 [d]The name of the slain Israelite, the one slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, son of Salu, prince of a Simeonite ancestral house. ¹⁵ The name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, daughter of Zur, who was head of a clan, an ancestral house, in Midian.

Vengeance on the Midianites. ^16 [e]The Lord then said to Moses: ^17 (C)Treat the Midianites as enemies and strike them, ¹⁸ for they have been your enemies by the deceitful dealings they had with you regarding Peor and their kinswoman Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite prince, who was slain at the time of the plague because of Peor.

III. Second Census of a New Generation and Preparation to Enter the Promised Land

Chapter 26

The Second Census. ¹⁹ After the plague ¹ the Lord said to Moses and Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest: ² Take a census, by ancestral houses, throughout the community of the Israelites of all those of twenty years or more who are eligible for military service in Israel.^{(D) 3} So on the plains of Moab along the Jordan at Jericho, Moses and Eleazar the priest enrolled them, ⁴ those of twenty years or more, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

The Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt were as follows:^[f]

^5 (E)Reuben, the firstborn of Israel. The descendants of Reuben by their clans were: through Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; through Pallu, the clan of the Palluites; ⁶ through Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; through Carmi, the clan of the Carmites. ⁷ These were the clans of the Reubenites, and those enrolled numbered forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty.

⁸ From Pallu descended Eliab. ⁹ The sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram^(F)—the same Dathan and Abiram, ones designated by the community, who contended with Moses and Aaron as part of Korah’s faction when they contended with the Lord. ¹⁰ The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, along with Korah, as a warning. The faction was destroyed when the fire consumed two hundred and fifty men. ¹¹ The descendants of Korah, however, did not die out.

¹² The descendants of Simeon by clans were: through Nemuel,^[g] the clan of the Nemuelites; through Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; through Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites; ¹³ through Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; through Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites. ¹⁴ These were the clans of the Simeonites, twenty-two thousand two hundred.

¹⁵ The descendants of Gad by clans were: through Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; through Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; through Shuni, the clan of the Shunites; ¹⁶ through Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; through Eri, the clan of the Erites; ¹⁷ through Arod, the clan of the Arodites; through Areli, the clan of the Arelites. ¹⁸ These were the clans of the descendants of Gad, of whom there were enrolled forty thousand five hundred.

¹⁹ The sons of Judah were Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.^{(G) 20} The descendants of Judah by their clans were: through Shelah, the clan of the Shelahites; through Perez, the clan of the Perezites; through Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites. ²¹ The descendants of Perez were: through Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; through Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites. ²² These were the clans of Judah, of whom there were enrolled seventy-six thousand five hundred.

²³ The descendants of Issachar by their clans were: through Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; through Puvah, the clan of the Puvahites; ²⁴ through Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; through Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites. ²⁵ These were the clans of Issachar, of whom there were enrolled sixty-four thousand three hundred.

²⁶ The descendants of Zebulun by their clans were: through Sered, the clan of the Seredites; through Elon, the clan of the Elonites; through Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites. ²⁷ These were the clans of the Zebulunites, of whom there were enrolled sixty thousand five hundred.

²⁸ The sons of Joseph were Manasseh and Ephraim. ²⁹ The descendants of Manasseh by clans were: through Machir, the clan of the Machirites. Now Machir begot Gilead: through Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites. ³⁰ The descendants of Gilead were: through Iezer, the clan of the Iezrites; through Helek, the clan of the Helekites; ³¹ through Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; through Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites; ³² through Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; through Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites. ^33 (H)As for Zelophehad, son of Hepher—he had no sons, but only daughters. The names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. ³⁴ These were the clans of Manasseh, and those enrolled numbered fifty-two thousand seven hundred.

³⁵ These were the descendants of Ephraim by their clans: through Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; through Becher, the clan of the Becherites; through Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites. ³⁶ These were the descendants of Shuthelah: through Eran, the clan of the Eranites. ³⁷ These were the clans of the Ephraimites, of whom there were enrolled thirty-two thousand five hundred.

These were the descendants of Joseph by their clans.

³⁸ The descendants of Benjamin by their clans were: through Bela, the clan of the Belaites; through Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; through Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites; ³⁹ through Shupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; through Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites. ⁴⁰ The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: through Ard, the clan of the Ardites; through Naaman, the clan of the Naamites. ⁴¹ These were the descendants of Benjamin by their clans, of whom there were enrolled forty-five thousand six hundred.

⁴² These were the descendants of Dan by their clans: through Shuham the clan of the Shuhamites. These were the clans of Dan, ⁴³ of whom there were enrolled sixty-four thousand four hundred.

⁴⁴ The descendants of Asher by their clans were: through Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; through Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; through Beriah, the clan of the Beriites; ⁴⁵ through Heber, the clan of the Heberites; through Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites. ⁴⁶ The name of Asher’s daughter was Serah. ⁴⁷ These were the clans of the descendants of Asher, of whom there were enrolled fifty-three thousand four hundred.

⁴⁸ The descendants of Naphtali by their clans were: through Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; through Guni, the clan of the Gunites; ⁴⁹ through Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; through Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites. ⁵⁰ These were the clans of Naphtali, of whom there were enrolled forty-five thousand four hundred.

⁵¹ These were the Israelites who were enrolled: six hundred and one thousand seven hundred and thirty.

Allotment of the Land.^{[h] 52} The Lord said to Moses: ^53 (I)Among these the land shall be divided as their heritage in keeping with the number of people named. ^54 (J)To a large tribe you shall assign a large heritage, to a small tribe a small heritage, each receiving its heritage in proportion to the number enrolled in it. ⁵⁵ But the land shall be divided by lot, all inheriting according to the lists of their ancestral tribes. ⁵⁶ As the lot falls the heritage of each tribe, large or small, will be assigned.

Census of the Levites. ⁵⁷ These were the Levites enrolled by clans: through Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; through Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; through Merari, the clan of the Merarites. ⁵⁸ These were clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, the clan of the Korahites.^[i]

Now Kohath begot Amram, ⁵⁹ whose wife was named Jochebed. She was the daughter of Levi, born to Levi in Egypt. To Amram she bore Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister. ⁶⁰ To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ⁶¹ But Nadab and Abihu died when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord. ⁶² The Levites enrolled were twenty-three thousand, every male one month or more of age.^(K) They were not enrolled with the other Israelites, however, for no heritage was given them among the Israelites.

⁶³ These, then, were those enrolled by Moses and Eleazar the priest, when they enrolled the Israelites on the plains of Moab along the Jordan at Jericho. ⁶⁴ Among them there was not one of those who had been enrolled by Moses and Aaron the priest, when they enrolled the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai. ^65 (L)For the Lord had told them that they would surely die in the wilderness, and not one of them was left except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun.

Chapter 27

Zelophehad’s Daughters. ¹ The daughters of Zelophehad, son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, came forward. (Zelophehad belonged to the clans of Manasseh, son of Joseph.) The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah.^{(M) 2} Standing before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the princes, and the whole community at the entrance of the tent of meeting, they said: ³ “Our father died in the wilderness. Although he did not join the faction of those who conspired against the Lord,^[j] Korah’s faction, he died for his own sin without leaving any sons. ⁴ But why should our father’s name be cut off from his clan merely because he had no son? Give us land among our father’s kindred.”

Laws Concerning Heiresses.^{[k] 5} So Moses laid their case before the Lord, ⁶ and the Lord said to him: ⁷ The plea of Zelophehad’s daughters is just; you shall give them hereditary land among their father’s kindred and transfer their father’s heritage to them. ⁸ Tell the Israelites: If a man dies without leaving a son, you shall transfer his heritage to his daughter; ⁹ if he has no daughter, you shall give his heritage to his brothers; ¹⁰ if he has no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his father’s brothers; ¹¹ if his father had no brothers, you shall give his heritage to his nearest relative in his clan, who shall then take possession of it.

This will be the statutory procedure for the Israelites, as the Lord commanded Moses.^(N)

Joshua to Succeed Moses. ¹² The Lord said to Moses: Go up into this mountain of the Abarim range^[l] and view the land that I have given to the Israelites.^{(O) 13} When you have viewed it, you will be gathered to your people, as was Aaron your brother.^{(P) 14} For in the rebellion of the community in the wilderness of Zin you both rebelled against my order to acknowledge my holiness before them by means of the water.^(Q) (These were the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵ Then Moses said to the Lord, ¹⁶ “May the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humanity,^[m] set over the community someone ¹⁷ who will be their leader in battle and who will lead them out and bring them in, that the Lord’s community may not be like sheep without a shepherd.” ¹⁸ And the Lord replied to Moses: Take Joshua, son of Nun,^(R) a man of spirit,^[n] and lay your hand upon him. ¹⁹ Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, and commission him in their sight. ²⁰ Invest him with some of your own power, that the whole Israelite community may obey him. ²¹ He shall present himself to Eleazar the priest, who will seek for him the decision of the Urim^[o] in the Lord’s presence; and as it directs, Joshua, all the Israelites with him, and the whole community will go out for battle; and as it directs, they will come in.

²² Moses did as the Lord had commanded him. Taking Joshua and having him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole community, ²³ he laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the Lord had directed through Moses.

Chapter 28

General Sacrifices. ¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² Give the Israelites this commandment: At their prescribed times, you will be careful to present to me the food offerings that are due me, oblations of pleasing aroma to me.

Each Morning and Evening. ^3 (S)You will tell them therefore: This is the oblation which you will offer to the Lord: two unblemished yearling lambs each day as the regular burnt offering,^{[p] 4} offering one lamb in the morning and the other during the evening twilight, ⁵ each with a grain offering of one tenth of an ephah of bran flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil of crushed olives.^{[q] 6} This is the regular burnt offering that was made at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, an oblation to the Lord. ⁷ And as the libation for the first lamb, you will make a libation to the Lord in the sanctuary^[r] of a fourth of a hin of strong drink. ⁸ The other lamb you will offer during the evening twilight, making the same grain offering and the same libation as in the morning, as an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord.

On the Sabbath. ⁹ On the sabbath day: two unblemished yearling lambs, with a grain offering of two tenths of an ephah of bran flour mixed with oil, and its libation. ¹⁰ This is the sabbath burnt offering each sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its libation.

At the New Moon Feast. ¹¹ On your new moons^[s] you will offer as a burnt offering to the Lord two bulls of the herd, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs, ¹² with three tenths of an ephah of bran flour mixed with oil as the grain offering for each bull, two tenths of an ephah of bran flour mixed with oil as the grain offering for the ram, ¹³ and one tenth of an ephah of bran flour mixed with oil as the grain offering for each lamb, a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, an oblation to the Lord. ¹⁴ Their libations will consist of a half a hin of wine for each bull, a third of a hin for the ram, and a fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for the new moon, for every new moon through the months of the year. ¹⁵ Moreover, there will be one goat for a purification offering to the Lord; it will be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its libation.

At the Passover. ¹⁶ The fourteenth day^[t] of the first month is the Passover of the Lord,^{(T) 17} and the fifteenth day of this month is the pilgrimage feast. For seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten. ¹⁸ On the first day you will declare a holy day, and you shall do no heavy work.^{[u](U) 19} You will offer an oblation, a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished. ²⁰ Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil; you will offer three tenths of an ephah for each bull and two tenths for the ram. ²¹ You will offer one tenth for each of the seven lambs; ²² and one goat as a purification offering to make atonement for yourselves. ²³ These offerings you will make in addition to the morning burnt offering which is part of the regular burnt offering. ²⁴ You will make exactly the same offerings each day for seven days as food offerings, oblations of pleasing aroma to the Lord; they will be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering with its libation. ²⁵ On the seventh day you will declare a holy day: you shall do no heavy work.^(V)

At Pentecost. ²⁶ On the day of first fruits,^[v] on your feast of Weeks,^(W) when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain, you will declare a holy day: you shall do no heavy work. ²⁷ You will offer burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord: two bulls of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished. ²⁸ Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for the ram, ²⁹ and one tenth for each of the seven lambs. ³⁰ One goat will be for a purification offering to make atonement for yourselves. ³¹ You will make these offerings, together with their libations, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering.

Chapter 29

On New Year’s Day. ¹ In the seventh month on the first day^[w] you will declare a holy day, and do no heavy work; it shall be a day on which you sound the trumpet.^{(X) 2} You will offer a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs. ³ Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the ram, ⁴ and one tenth for each of the seven lambs. ⁵ One goat will be a purification offering to make atonement for yourselves. ⁶ These are in addition to the burnt offering for the new moon with its grain offering, and in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, together with the libations prescribed for them, for a pleasing aroma, an oblation to the Lord.

On the Day of Atonement. ⁷ On the tenth day of this seventh month^[x] you will declare a holy day, humble yourselves, and do no sort of work.^{(Y) 8} You will offer a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma: one bull of the herd, one ram, and seven yearling lambs that you are sure are unblemished. ⁹ Their grain offerings of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for the bull, two tenths for the one ram, ¹⁰ and one tenth for each of the seven lambs. ¹¹ One goat will be a purification offering. These are in addition to the purification offering for purging,^[y] the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their libations.

On the Feast of Booths. ^12 [z]On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you will declare a holy day:^(Z) you shall do no heavy work. For the following seven days you will celebrate a pilgrimage feast to the Lord. ¹³ You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord: thirteen bulls^[aa] of the herd, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs that are unblemished. ¹⁴ Their grain offerings will be of bran flour mixed with oil: three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams, ¹⁵ and one tenth for each of the fourteen lambs. ¹⁶ One goat will be a purification offering. These are in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

¹⁷ On the second day: twelve bulls of the herd, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ¹⁸ with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ¹⁹ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

²⁰ On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ²¹ with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ²² as well as one goat for a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

²³ On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ²⁴ the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ²⁵ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

²⁶ On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ^27 (AA)with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ²⁸ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

²⁹ On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ³⁰ with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ³¹ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

³² On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen unblemished yearling lambs, ³³ with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ³⁴ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and libation.

³⁵ On the eighth day^(AB) you will hold a public assembly:^[ab] you shall do no heavy work. ³⁶ You will offer a burnt offering, an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, and seven unblemished yearling lambs, ³⁷ with the grain offerings and libations for the bulls, rams and lambs in their prescribed number, ³⁸ as well as one goat as a purification offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and libation.

³⁹ These are the offerings you will make to the Lord on your festivals, besides your votive or voluntary offerings of burnt offerings, grain offerings, libations, and communion offerings.

Chapter 30

¹ So Moses instructed the Israelites exactly as the Lord had commanded him.

Validity and Annulment of Vows. ² Moses said to the heads of the Israelite tribes, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ³ When a man makes a vow to the Lord or binds himself under oath to a pledge,^[ac] he shall not violate his word, but must fulfill exactly the promise he has uttered.^(AC)

⁴ “When a woman makes a vow to the Lord, or binds herself to a pledge, while still in her father’s house in her youth, ⁵ and her father learns of her vow or the pledge to which she bound herself and says nothing to her about it, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself remains valid. ⁶ But if on the day he learns of it her father opposes her, then any vow or any pledge to which she bound herself becomes invalid; and the Lord will release her from it, since her father opposed her.

⁷ “If she marries while under a vow or under a rash pledge to which she bound herself, ⁸ and her husband learns of it, yet says nothing to her on the day he learns it, then the vows or the pledges to which she bound herself remain valid. ⁹ But if on the day her husband learns of it he opposes her, he thereby annuls the vow she had made or the rash pledge to which she had bound herself, and the Lord will release her from it. ¹⁰ (The vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, however, any pledge to which such a woman binds herself, is valid.)

¹¹ “If it is in her husband’s house^[ad] that she makes a vow or binds herself under oath to a pledge, ¹² and her husband learns of it yet says nothing to her to oppose her, then all her vows remain valid or any pledge to which she has bound herself. ¹³ But if on the day he learns of them her husband annuls them, then whatever she has expressly promised in her vows or in her pledge becomes invalid; since her husband has annulled them, the Lord will release her from them.

¹⁴ “Any vow or any pledge that she makes under oath to humble herself, her husband may either confirm or annul. ¹⁵ But if her husband, day after day, says nothing at all to her, he thereby confirms all her vows or all the pledges incumbent upon her; he has confirmed them, because on the day he learned of them he said nothing to her. ¹⁶ If, however, he annuls them^[ae] some time after he first learned of them, he will be responsible for her guilt.”

¹⁷ These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, as well as a father and his daughter while she is still in her youth in her father’s house.

Chapter 31

Campaign Against the Midianites. ¹ The Lord said to Moses:^{[af] 2} Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you will be gathered to your people. ³ So Moses told the people, “Arm some men among you for the campaign, to attack Midian and to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ From each of the tribes of Israel you will send a thousand men to the campaign.” ⁵ From the contingents of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war. ⁶ Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm. ⁷ They waged war against the Midianites, as the Lord had commanded Moses, and killed every male. ⁸ Besides those slain in battle, they killed the kings of Midian: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian;^[ag] and they also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword. ⁹ But the Israelites took captive the women of the Midianites with their children, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as loot, ¹⁰ while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments. ¹¹ Then they took all the plunder, with the people and animals they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and plunder, ¹² to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho.

Treatment of the Captives. ¹³ When Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the leaders of the community, went outside the camp to meet them, ¹⁴ Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign. ¹⁵ “So you have spared all the women!” he exclaimed. ¹⁶ “These are the very ones who on Balaam’s advice were behind the Israelites’ unfaithfulness to the Lord in the affair at Peor,^(AD) so that plague struck the Lord’s community. ^17 [ah]Now kill, therefore, every male among the children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man. ¹⁸ But you may spare for yourselves all the girls who have not had sexual relations.

Purification After Combat. ¹⁹ “Moreover, remain outside the camp for seven days; every one of you who has killed anyone or touched someone killed will purify yourselves on the third and on the seventh day—both you and your captives. ²⁰ You will also purify every garment, every article of leather, everything made of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹ Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had taken part in the battle: “This is the prescribed ritual which the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead— ²³ whatever can stand fire—you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with water of purification.^[ai] But whatever cannot stand fire you must put into the water. ²⁴ On the seventh day you will wash your garments, and then you will again be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”

Division of the Spoils. ²⁵ The Lord said to Moses: ²⁶ With the help of Eleazar the priest and of the heads of the ancestral houses of the community, inventory all the spoils captured, human being and beast alike; ²⁷ then divide the spoils^[aj] between the warriors who went on the campaign and the whole community. ²⁸ You will levy a tax for the Lord on the soldiers who went on the campaign: one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, donkeys, and sheep. ²⁹ From their half you will take it and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰ From the Israelites’ half you will take one captive from every fifty human beings, oxen, donkeys, and sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle. ³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest did this, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Amount of the Plunder. ³² This plunder, what was left of the loot which the troops had taken, amounted to six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³ seventy-two thousand oxen, ³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵ and thirty-two thousand women who had not had sexual relations.

³⁶ The half-share that fell to those who had gone out on the campaign was in number: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ³⁷ of which six hundred and seventy-five fell as tax to the Lord; ³⁸ thirty-six thousand oxen, of which seventy-two fell as tax to the Lord; ³⁹ thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which sixty-one fell as tax to the Lord; ⁴⁰ and sixteen thousand persons, of whom thirty-two persons fell as tax to the Lord. ⁴¹ Moses gave the taxes contributed to the Lord to Eleazar the priest, exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses.

⁴² As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses had taken from the men who had fought— ⁴³ the community’s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴ thirty-six thousand oxen, ⁴⁵ thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶ and sixteen thousand persons. ⁴⁷ From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one captive from every fifty, from human being and beast alike, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle, exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Gifts of the Officers. ⁴⁸ Then those who were officers over the contingents of the army, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came up to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to him, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing. ^50 [ak]So, we have brought as an offering to the Lord articles of gold that each of us has picked up—anklets, bracelets, rings, earrings, or pendants—to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all fashioned pieces. ⁵² The gold that was given as a contribution to the Lord—from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds—amounted in all to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ⁵³ What the common soldiers had looted each one kept for himself.^{[al] 54} So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and put it in the tent of meeting as a reminder on behalf of the Israelites before the Lord.