0 SAB Numbers 31

Numbers

CHAPTER 31

The Midianite massacre
31:1-54

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

God said to Moses,

Take revenge on the Midianites. [1]

Then you will die.

3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.

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

Moses said to the people,

Go to war against the Midianites.

This will be God's revenge on them.

One thousand men from each tribe will go to war.

5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.

12,000 soldiers were armed for war, 1000 from each tribe.

Phinehas had the trumpets and holy instruments.

7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.

The Israelites attacked the Midianites, as God commanded, and killed all the males.

8And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

10And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

They killed Balaam [2] and the Midianite kings, took the women and children as captives, burned their cities, and took all their possessions, animals, and slaves.

12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

They brought all the captives, prey, and spoil to Moses and Eleazar.

14And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

15And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

And Moses was angry with the officers, and said to them,
Have you saved all the women alive? [3]

16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

These are the women that caused the Israelites, through the counsel of Balaam [4], to trespass against God in the matter of Peor [5], and there was a plague on the congregation.

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

Now go and kill all the young males and every non-virgin woman.

18But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

But all the virgin females, keep alive for yourselves. [6]

19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.

21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;

22 Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.

Those of you who have killed these people, or touched any of their dead bodies, must stay outside the camp for seven days to purify yourselves.

After seven days you will be clean and can return to camp.

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

26Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:

27And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:

God said to Moses,
Take the prey, both human and animal, and divide it into two parts: one for the soldiers, the other for the congregation.

28And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:

29Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.

Also include a tribute to me from the soldiers' portion 0.2% of the humans and animals.

Give them to Eleazar for a heave offering to me. [7]

30 And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.

From the congregation's half, give 2% of the humans and animals to the Levites.

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

And Moses and Eleazar did as God commanded.

32And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,

33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,

34 And threescore and one thousand asses,

35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.

The total amount of booty was 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cows, 61,000 asses, and 32,000 virgin females.

36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:

37 And the LORD's tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.

38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was threescore and twelve.

39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD's tribute was threescore and one.

The soldiers' half was 337,500 sheep, 36,000 sheep, 30,500 asses, and 16,000 virgin females.

40And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD's tribute was thirty and two persons.

41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD's heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

From the soldiers, God received 675 sheep, 72 cows, 61 asses, and 32 virgin females. [8]

42 And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,

43 (Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,

44 And thirty and six thousand beeves,

45 And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,

46 And sixteen thousand persons;)

The congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, 36,000 cows, 30,500 asses, and 16,000 virgin females.

47 Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Moses took 2% of the congregation's half of the booty and gave it to the Levites, as God commanded Moses.

48 And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:

49 And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.

50 We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.

The officers brought gold jewelry from the Midianite massacre to Moses .

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

52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)

Moses gave the gold jewelry, which weighed 16,750 shekels, to Eleazar.

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

Moses and Eleazar brought the gold to the tabernacle as a memorial for the Israelites.
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