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31
1 The Lord told Moses, 2 “Punish the Midianites because of what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your forefathers in death.”
3 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 You are to contribute one thousand men from each Israelite tribe.”
5 So one thousand men were chosen from each Israelite tribe, making twelve thousand troops ready for battle. 6 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 They attacked the Midianites, as the Lord had told Moses to do, and they killed all the men. 8 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 The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children, and they took as plunder all their herds, flocks, and possessions. 10 They set fire to all the Midianite towns and camps where they had lived, 11 and carried away all the plunder and loot, including people and animals.
12 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 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the Israelite leaders went out of the camp to meet them.
14 Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who returned from the battle. 15 “Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them. 16 “You realize that these were the same women who 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 So go and kill all the boys, and every woman who has slept with a man. 18 Let all the girls who are virgins live. They are yours. 19 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 Also purify all your clothing and anything made of leather, goat's hair, or wood.”
21 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 All that's made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead— 23 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 Wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean. Then you can enter the camp.”
25 The Lord told Moses, 26 “You, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelite family leaders are to take a record of the people and animals that were captured. 27 Then divide them between the troops who went into battle and the rest of the Israelites. 28 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 Take this from their half share and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.
30 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 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord had ordered Moses.
32 This was the list of plunder remaining that had been looted by the troops: 675,000 sheep, 33 72,000 cattle, 34 61,000 donkeys, 35 and 32,000 virgins.
36 This was the half share for those who had gone to fight: 337,500 sheep, 37 with a contribution for the Lord of 675, 38 36,000 cattle, with a Lord's contribution of 72, 39 30,500 donkeys, with a Lord's contribution of 61, 40 and 16,000 people, with a Lord's contribution of 32. 41 Moses gave the contribution to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord as the Lord had ordered Moses.
42 The Israelites' half share left after Moses had given the half share to the troops who had gone to fight, 43 consisted of: 337,500 sheep, 44 36,000 cattle, 45 30,500 donkeys, 46 and 16,000 people. 47 Moses took from the Israelites' half one out of every fifty people and animals and gave them to the Levites who take care of the Lord's Tabernacle, as the Lord had ordered him.
48 The army officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, came to Moses 49 and told him, “We, your servants, have checked the troops we command and not a single man is missing. 50 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 Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted from them all the objects made out of gold. 52 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 who had fought in the battle had each taken plunder for himself.) 54 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.

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© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher