The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 31 -

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Revenge first the children of Israel on the Madianites, and so thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

And Moses forthwith said: Arm of you men to fight, who may take the revenge of the Lord on the Madianites.

Let a thousand men be chosen out of every tribe of Israel to be sent to the war.

And they gave a thousand of every tribe, that is to say, twelve thousand men well appointed for battle.

And Moses sent them with Phinees the son of Eleazar the priest, and he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

And when they had fought against the Madianites and had overcome them, they slew all the men.

And their kings Evi, and Recem, and Sur, and Hur, and Rebe, five princes of the nation: Balaam also the son of Beer they killed with the sword.

And they took their women, and their children captives, and all their cattle, and all their goods: and all their possessions they plundered:

And all their cities, and their villages, and castles, they burned.

And they carried away the booty, and all that they had taken both of men and of beasts.

And they brought them to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the children of Israel. But the rest of the things for use they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, beside the Jordan over against Jericho.

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

And Moses being angry with the chief officers of the army, the tribunes, and the centurions that were come from the battle,

Said: Why have you saved the women?

Are not these they, that deceived the children of Israel by the counsel of Balaam, and made you transgress against the Lord by the sin of Phogor, for which also the people was punished?

Therefore kill all that are of the male sex, even of the children: and put to death the women, that have carnally known men.

But the girls, and all the women that are virgins save for yourselves:

And stay without the camp seven days. He that hath killed a man, or touched one that is killed, shall be purified the third day and the seventh day.

And of all the spoil, every garment, or vessel, or any thing made for use, of the skins, or hair of goats, or of wood, shall be purified.

Eleazar also the priest spoke to the men of the army, that had fought, in this manner: This is the ordinance of the law, which the Lord hath commanded Moses:

Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lend, and tin,

And all that may pass through the fire, shall be purified by fire, but whatsoever cannot abide the fire, shall be sanctified with the water of expiation:

And you shall wash your garments the seventh day, and being purified, you shall afterwards enter into the camp.

Division of the Spoils

And the Lord said to Moses:

Take the sum of the things that were taken both of man and beast, thou and Eleazar the priest and the princes of the multitude:

And thou shalt divide the spoil equally, between them that fought and went out to the war, and between the rest of the multitude.

And thou shalt separate a portion to the Lord from them that fought and were in the battle, one soul of five hundred as well of persons as of oxen and asses and sheep.

And thou shalt give it to Eleazar the priest, because they are the firstfruits of the Lord.

Out of the moiety also of the children of Israel thou shalt take the fiftieth head of persons, and of oxen, and asses, and sheep, and of all beasts, and thou shalt give them to the Levites that watch in the charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.

And Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had commanded.

And the spoil which the army had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

Seventy-two thousand oxen,

Sixty-one thousand asses:

And thirty-two thousand persons of the female sex, that had not known men.

And one half was given to them that had been in the battle, to wit, three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

Out of which, for the portion of the Lord, were reckoned six hundred seventy-five sheep.

And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen:

Out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses, sixty-one asses:

Out of the sixteen thousand persons, there fell to the portion of the Lord, thirty-two souls.

And Moses delivered the number of the firstfruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, as had been commanded him,

Out of the half of the children of Israel, which he had separated for them that had been in the battle.

But out of the half that fell to the rest of the multitude, that is to say, out of the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

And out of the thirty-six thousand oxen,

And out of the thirty thousand five hundred asses,

And out of the sixteen thousand persons,

Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites that watched in the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded.

The Voluntary Offering

And when the commanders of the army, and the tribunes and centurions were come to Moses, they said:

We thy servants have reckoned up the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and not so much as one was wanting.

Therefore we offer as gifts to the Lord what gold every one of us could find in the booty, in garters and tablets, rings and bracelets, and chains, that thou mayst pray to the Lord for us.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in divers kinds,

In weight sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles, from the tribunes and from the centurions.

For that which every one had taken in the booty was his own.

And that which was received they brought into the tabernacle of the testimony, for a memorial of the children of Israel before the Lord.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”

Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the LORD’s vengeance on Midian.

You shall send one thousand out of every tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, to the war.”

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

Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses. They killed every male.

They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.

The children of Israel took the women of Midian captive with their little ones; and all their livestock, all their flocks, and all their goods, they took as plunder.

All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire.

They took all the captives, and all the plunder, both of man and of animal.

They brought the captives with the prey and the plunder, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

Moses and Eleazar the priest, with all the princes of the congregation, went out to meet them outside of the camp.

Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war.

Moses said to them, “Have you saved all the women alive?

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

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.

But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

“Encamp outside of the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

You shall purify every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.”

Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses.

However the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity. All that doesn’t withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water.

You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. Afterward you shall come into the camp.”

Division of the Spoils

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Count the plunder that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation;

and divide the plunder into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.

Levy a tribute to the LORD of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.

Take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the LORD’s wave offering.

Of the children of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle.”

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

Now the plunder, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

seventy-two thousand head of cattle,

sixty-one thousand donkeys,

and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him.

The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep;

and the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the LORD’s tribute was seventy-two.

The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the LORD’s tribute was sixty-one.

The persons were sixteen thousand, of whom the LORD’s tribute was thirty-two persons.

Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

Of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided off from the men who fought

(now the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

thirty-six thousand head of cattle,

thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

and sixteen thousand persons),

even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD commanded Moses.

The Voluntary Offering

The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses.

They said to Moses, “Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us.

We have brought the LORD’s offering, what every man found: gold ornaments, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD.”

Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels.

All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.(a)

The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.

Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

Footnotes

(a)31:52 A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 16,750 shekels is about 167.5 kilograms or about 368.5 pounds.