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^[a] 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.

Declaration Concerning Tithes. ¹² When you have finished setting aside all the tithes of your produce in the third year,^(A) the year of the tithes, and have given them to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, that they may eat and be satisfied in your own communities, ¹³ you shall declare before the Lord, your God, “I have purged my house of the sacred portion and I have given it to the Levite, the resident alien, the orphan and the widow, just as you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor forgotten any.

Division of the Plunder. ²¹ When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him, whom he had left behind at the Wadi Besor, they came out to meet David and the men with him. As David approached, he greeted them. ²² But all the greedy and worthless among those who had accompanied David said, “Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them anything from the plunder, except for each man’s wife and children.” ²³ But David said: “You must not do this, my brothers, after what the Lord has given us. The Lord has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiders that came against us.^{(A) 24} Who could agree with this proposal of yours? Rather, the share of the one who goes down to battle shall be the same as that of the one who remains with the baggage—they share alike.”^{(B) 25} And from that day forward he made this a law and a custom in Israel, as it still is today.^(C)