Numbers 31

1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

2 'Execute the vengeance of the sons of Israel against the Midianites — afterwards thou art gathered unto thy people.'

“Punish the Midianites because of what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your forefathers in death.”

3 And Moses speaketh unto the people, saying, 'Be ye armed some of you for the host, and they are against Midian, to put the vengeance of Jehovah on Midian;

Moses instructed the people, “Have some of your men get ready for battle, so they can go and attack the Midianites and carry out the Lord's punishment on them.

4 a thousand for a tribe — a thousand for a tribe, to all the tribes of Israel — ye do send to the host.'

You are to contribute one thousand men from each Israelite tribe.”

5 And there are given out of the thousands of Israel a thousand for a tribe, twelve thousand armed ones of the host;

So one thousand men were chosen from each Israelite tribe, making twelve thousand troops ready for battle.

6 and Moses sendeth them, a thousand for a tribe, to the host, them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, to the host; and the holy vessels, and the trumpets of the shouting, in his hand.

Moses sent them into battle, one thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest. He carried with him the holy objects from the sanctuary and the trumpets used for giving signals.

7 And they war against Midian, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses, and slay every male;

They attacked the Midianites, as the Lord had told Moses to do, and they killed all the men.

8 and the kings of Midian they have slain, besides their pierced ones, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam son of Beor, they have slain with the sword.

Among those killed were the five kings of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword.

9 And the sons of Israel take captive the women of Midian, and their infants; and all their cattle, and all their substance, and all their wealth they have plundered;

The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children, and they took as plunder all their herds, flocks, and possessions.

10 and all their cities, with their habitations, and all their towers, they have burnt with fire.

They set fire to all the Midianite towns and camps where they had lived,

11 And they take all the spoil, and all the prey, among man and among beast;

and carried away all the plunder and loot, including people and animals.

12 and they bring in, unto Moses, and unto Eleazar the priest, and unto the company of the sons of Israel, the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto the camp, unto the plains of Moab, which [are] by Jordan, [near] Jericho.

They brought the prisoners, loot, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the rest of the Israelites where they were camped on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan opposite Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the company, go out to meet them, unto the outside of the camp,

Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the Israelite leaders went out of the camp to meet them.

14 and Moses is wroth against the inspectors of the force, chiefs of the thousands, and chiefs of the hundreds, who are coming in from the host of the battle.

Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who returned from the battle.

15 And Moses saith unto them, 'Have ye kept alive every female?

“Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them.

16 lo, they — they have been to the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to cause a trespass against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and the plague is in the company of Jehovah.

“You realize that these were the women seduced the Israelite men, leading them to be unfaithful to the Lord at Peor, following Balaam's advice! That's why the Lord's people suffered from the plague!

17 'And now, slay ye every male among the infants, yea, every woman known of man by the lying of a male ye have slain;

So go and kill all the boys and every woman who has had slept with a man.

18 and all the infants among the women, who have not known the lying of a male, ye have kept alive for yourselves.

Let all the girls who are virgins live. They are yours.

19 'And ye, encamp ye at the outside of the camp seven days — any who hath slain a person, and any who hath come against a pierced one, ye cleanse yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day — ye and your captives;

All those of you who killed someone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. Purify yourselves and your prisoners on the third day and the seventh day.

20 and every garment, and every skin vessel, and every work of goats' [hair], and every wooden vessel, ye yourselves cleanse.'

Also purify all your clothing garment and anything made of leather, goat's hair, or wood.”

21 And Eleazar the priest saith unto the men of the host who go in to battle, 'This [is] the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses:

Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone into battle, “These are the legal regulations that the Lord has ordered Moses to be carried out:

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

All that's made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—

23 every thing which may go into fire, ye cause to pass over through fire, and it hath been clean; only, with the water of separation it is cleansed, and all that may not go into fire, ye cause to pass over through water;

anything that doesn't burn—must be put through fire to make it clean. But it still has to be purified using water of purification. Anything that burns must be put through the water.

24 and ye have washed your garments on the seventh day, and have been clean, and afterwards ye come in unto the camp.'

Wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean. Then you can enter the camp.”

25 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

26 'Take up the sum of the prey of the captives, among man and among beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the company;

“You, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite family leaders are to take a record of the people and animals that were captured.

27 and thou hast halved the prey between those handling the battle who go out to the host and all the company;

Then divide them between the troops who went into battle and the rest of the Israelites.

28 and thou hast raised a tribute to Jehovah from the men of war, who go out to the host, one body out of five hundred, of man, and of the herd, and of the asses, and of the flock;

Take as a contribution to the Lord from what is allocated to the troops who went into battle one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.

29 from their half ye do take, and thou hast given to Eleazar the priest — the heave-offering of Jehovah.

Take this from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.

30 'And from the sons of Israel's half thou dost take one possession out of fifty, of man, of the herd, of the asses, and of the flock, of all the cattle, and thou hast given them to the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.'

From the Israelites; half share, take one out of every fifty people, cattle, donkeys, or sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who take care of the Lord's Tabernacle.”

31 And Moses doth — Eleazar the priest also — as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had ordered Moses.

32 And the prey, the residue of the spoil which the people of the host have spoiled, is of the flock six hundred thousand, and seventy thousand, and five thousand;

This was the list of plunder remaining that had been looted by the troops: 675,000 sheep,

33 and of the herd two and seventy thousand;

72,000 cattle,

34 and of asses one and sixty thousand;

61,000 donkeys,

35 and of human beings — of the women who have not known the lying of a male — all the persons [are] two and thirty thousand.

and 32,000 virgins.

36 And the half — the portion of those who go out into the host — the number of the flock is three hundred thousand, and thirty thousand, and seven thousand and five hundred.

This was the half share for those who had gone to fight: 337,500 sheep,

37 And the tribute to Jehovah of the sheep is six hundred five and seventy;

with a contribution for the Lord of 675,

38 and the herd [is] six and thirty thousand, and their tribute to Jehovah [is] two and seventy;

36,000 cattle, with a Lord's contribution of 72,

39 and the asses [are] thirty thousand and five hundred, and their tribute to Jehovah [is] one and sixty;

30,500 donkeys, with a Lord's contribution of 61,

40 and the human beings [are] sixteen thousand, and their tribute to Jehovah [is] two and thirty persons.

and 16,000 people, with a Lord's contribution of 32.

41 And Moses giveth the tribute — Jehovah's heave-offering — to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Moses gave the contribution to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord as the Lord had ordered Moses.

42 And of the sons of Israel's half, which Moses halved from the men who war —

The Israelites' half share left after Moses had given the half share to the troops who had gone to fight,

43 and the company's half is, of the flock three hundred thousand, and thirty thousand, seven thousand and five hundred;

consisted of: 337,500 sheep,

44 and of the herd six and thirty thousand;

36,000 cattle,

45 and of asses thirty thousand and five hundred;

30,500 donkeys,

46 and of human beings sixteen thousand —

and 16,000 people.

47 Moses taketh from the sons of Israel's half the one possession from the fifty, of man and of beast, and giveth them to the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

Moses took from the Israelites' half one out of every fifty people and animals and gave them the Levites who take care of the Lord's Tabernacle, as the Lord had ordered him.

48 And the inspectors whom the thousands of the host hath, (heads of the thousands and heads of the hundreds), draw near unto Moses,

The army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came to Moses

49 and they say unto Moses, 'Thy servants have taken up the sum of the men of war who [are] with us, and not a man of us hath been missed;

and told him, “We, your servants, have checked the troops we command and not a single man is missing.

50 and we bring near Jehovah's offering, each that which he hath found, vessels of gold — chain, and bracelet, seal-ring, [ear] -ring, and bead — to make atonement for ourselves before Jehovah.'

So we have brought the Lord an offering of the gold objects each man received—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—in order that we may be right before the Lord.”

51 And Moses receiveth — Eleazar the priest also — the gold from them, every made vessel,

Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them all the objects made out of gold.

52 and all the gold of the heave-offering which they have lifted up to Jehovah is sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from heads of the thousands, and from heads of the hundreds;

The gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds gave as an offering to the Lord weighed in total 16,750 shekels.

53 (the men of the host have spoiled each for himself);

(The men who had fought in the battle had each taken plunder for himself.)

54 and Moses taketh — Eleazar the priest also — the gold from the heads of the thousands and of the hundreds, and they bring it in unto the tent of meeting — a memorial for the sons of Israel before Jehovah.

Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and took it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial offering for the Israelites in the presence of the Lord.