Read Amplified Bible, 2015 Numbers 31 Bible Online

Numbers 31 - Amplified Bible, 2015 bible

Numbers 31

²"Take vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people [in death]."

³Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for war, so that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian [for seducing Israel to participate in idolatry].

⁴A thousand [fighting men] from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war."

⁵So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were selected, twelve thousand armed for war.

⁶Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to war with them, and the sacred vessels [of the sanctuary] and the trumpets to blow the alarm in his hand.

⁷They made war against Midian, just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

⁸They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur [the father of Cozbi] and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; also Balaam the son of Beor they killed with the sword.

⁹The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their children; and all their cattle, all their livestock, and all their property they took as spoil [of war].

¹⁰They burned all the cities where they lived, and all their encampments with fire.

¹¹They took all the plunder and all the spoils of war, both people and livestock.

¹²Then they brought the captives, the spoils, and the plunder to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the Israelites at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan [River] across from Jericho.

¹³Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.

¹⁴But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, who served in the war.

¹⁵And Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live?

¹⁶Look, these [are the women who] caused the Israelites, by the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and so a plague came among the congregation of the LORD.

¹⁷Now therefore, kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who is not a virgin.

¹⁸But all the young girls who have not known a man intimately, keep alive for yourselves [to marry].

¹⁹Camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any dead body, purify yourselves and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.

²⁰You shall purify every garment and every article made of leather and all the things made of goats' hair, and every article made of wood."

²¹Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, "This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:

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

²³everything that can stand fire, you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water of purification [to remove its impurity]; and all that cannot stand fire [such as fabrics] you shall pass through water.

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

²⁵Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶"You and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the fathers' households of the congregation are to take a count of the spoil of war that was captured, both people and livestock.

²⁷Divide the spoil into two [equal] parts between those who were involved in the war, that is, those who went out to battle and all [the rest of] the congregation.

²⁸Levy a tax for the LORD from the warriors who went to battle, one in five hundred of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, and the flocks.

²⁹Take this tribute from the warriors' half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the LORD.

³⁰From the Israelites' half [of the spoil] you shall take one out of every fifty of the persons, the oxen, the donkeys, the flocks, and of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who are in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD."

³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

³²The plunder that remained from the spoil of war which the warriors had taken, was 675,000 sheep,

³³and 72,000 cattle,

³⁴and 61,000 donkeys,

³⁵and 32,000 persons in all, of the [Midianite] women who were virgins.

³⁶The half share, the portion of those who went to war, was 337,500 sheep in number,

³⁷and the Lord's levy (tax) of the sheep was 675;

³⁸the cattle were 36,000, from which the Lord's levy was 72;

³⁹the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Lord's levy was 61;

⁴⁰the persons were 16,000, from whom the Lord's levy was 32 persons.

⁴¹Moses gave the levy which was the Lord's offering to Eleazar the priest, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁴²As for the Israelites' half, which Moses separated from that of the warriors—

⁴³now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep,

⁴⁴and 36,000 cattle,

⁴⁵and 30,500 donkeys,

⁴⁶and 16,000 people—

⁴⁷and from the Israelites' half, Moses took one out of every fifty, both of persons and animals, and gave them to the Levites, who were in charge of the tabernacle of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, approached Moses,

⁴⁹and they said to him, "Your servants have counted the warriors under our command, and not one man of us is missing.

⁵⁰So we have brought as an offering to the LORD what each man obtained—articles of gold, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."

⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the handmade articles.

⁵²All the gold of the offering which they presented to the LORD from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds was 16,750 shekels.

⁵³For the men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself.

⁵⁴So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle) as a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD.