Dual Panel1THE LORD said to Moses,
2“You are to exact vengeance for Israel on the Midianites. After that you will be gathered to your father's kin.”
3Moses addressed the people: “Let men among you be drafted for active service; they are to fall on Midian and exact vengeance in the LORD's name.
4Send out a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.”
5So men were called up from the clans of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand in all, drafted for active service.
6Moses sent out this force, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge of the sacred equipment and of the trumpets to give the signal for the battle cry.
7They made war on Midian as the LORD had commanded Moses, and slew every male.
8In addition to those slain in battle they killed the five kings of Midian -- Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba -- and they put to death also Balaam son of Beor.
9The Israelites took the Midianites' women and dependants captive, and carried off all their herds, flocks, and property.
10They set fire to all the towns in which they lived, and all their encampments.
11They collected the spoil and plunder, both man and beast,
12and brought it all -- captives, plunder, and spoil -- to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the whole Israelite community at the camp in the lowlands of Moab by the Jordan over against Jericho.
13Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the community went to meet them outside the camp.
14Moses spoke angrily to the officers of the army, the commanders of units of a thousand and of a hundred, who were returning from the campaign:
15“Have you spared all the women?” he said.
16“Remember, it was they who, on Balaam's departure, set about seducing the Israelites into disloyalty to the LORD in the affair at Peor, so that the plague struck the community of the LORD.
17Now kill every male child, and kill every woman who has had intercourse with a man,
18but you may spare for yourselves every woman among them who has not had intercourse.
19You yourselves, every one of you who has taken life and every one who has touched the dead, must remain outside the camp for seven days. Purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day,
20and purify also every piece of clothing, every article made of hide, everything woven of goats” hair, and everything made of wood.'
21Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers returning from battle, “This is a statute of the law which the LORD has ordained through Moses.
22Anything which will stand fire, whether gold, silver, copper, iron, tin, or lead, you must pass through fire and then it will be clean. Other things must be purified by the water of ritual purification; whatever cannot stand fire is to be passed through the water.
23(31:22)
24On the seventh day wash your clothes and be clean; after that you may re-enter the camp.”
25The LORD said to Moses,
26“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of families in the community must count everything that has been captured, whether human beings or animals,
27and divide them equally between the fighting men who went on the campaign and the rest of the community.
28Levy a tribute for the LORD: from the combatants it is to be one out of every five hundred, whether human beings, cattle, donkeys, or sheep,
29to be taken out of their share and given to Eleazar the priest as a contribution for the LORD.
30Out of the Israelites” share it is to be one out of every fifty taken, whether human beings or cattle, donkeys, or sheep, all the animals, to be given to the Levites who are in charge of the LORD's Tabernacle.'
31Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
32These were the spoils which remained of the plunder taken by the fighting men: six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
33seventy-two thousand cattle,
34sixty-one thousand donkeys;
35and of persons, thirty-two thousand young women who had had no intercourse with a man.
36The half share of those who took part in the campaign was thus three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
37the tribute for the LORD from these being six hundred and seventy-five;
38thirty-six thousand cattle, the tribute being seventy-two;
39thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, the tribute being sixty-one;
40and sixteen thousand persons, the tribute being thirty-two.
41Moses gave to Eleazar the priest the tribute levied for the LORD, as the LORD had commanded him.
42The share of the community, being the half share for the Israelites which Moses separated from that of the combatants, was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
43(31:42)
44thirty-six thousand cattle,
45thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
46and sixteen thousand persons.
47Moses took one out of every fifty, whether man or animal, from the half share of the Israelites, and gave it to the Levites who were in charge of the LORD's Tabernacle, as the LORD had commanded him.
48Then the officers who had commanded the forces on the campaign, the commanders of units of a thousand and of a hundred, came to Moses
49and said to him, “Sir, we have checked the roll of the fighting men who were under our command, and not one of them is missing.
50So we have brought the gold ornaments, the armlets, bracelets, signet rings, ear-rings, and pendants that each man has found, to offer them before the LORD as expiation for our lives.”
51Moses and Eleazar the priest received this gold from the commanders of units of a thousand and of a hundred, all of it craftsman's work,
52and the gold thus given as a contribution to the LORD weighed sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels;
53for every man in the army had taken plunder.
54Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of units of a thousand and of a hundred, and brought it to the Tent of Meeting that the LORD might remember Israel.