Numbers 31

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 The LORD said to Moses,	1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 "Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites, and then you shall be taken to your people."	2 “First, avenge the sons of Israel from the Midianites, and then you shall be gathered to your people.”
3 So Moses told the people, "Select men from your midst and arm them for war, to attack the Midianites and execute the LORD'S vengeance on them.	3 And immediately Moses said: “Arm the men among you for a battle, so that they may be able to fulfill the retribution of the Lord on the Midianites.
4 From each of the tribes of Israel you shall send a band of one thousand men to war."	4 Let one thousand men be chosen from each tribe of Israel, who shall be sent to war.”
5 From the clans of Israel, therefore, a thousand men of each tribe were levied, so that there were twelve thousand men armed for war.	5 And they gave one thousand from each tribe, that is, twelve thousand foot soldiers for battle.
6 Moses sent them out on the campaign, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar, the priest for the campaign, who had with him the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.	6 And Moses sent them with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest; also, he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.
7 They waged war against the Midianites, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and killed every male among them.	7 And when they had fought against the Midianites and had prevailed, they killed all the men.
8 Besides those slain in battle, they killed the five Midianite kings: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba; and they also executed Balaam, son of Beor, with the sword.	8 And they put to death by the sword their kings: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five leaders of the nation, and also Balaam the son of Beor.
9 But the Israelites kept the women of the Midianites with their little ones as captives, and all their herds and flocks and wealth as spoil,	9 And they seized their women and little ones, and all their cattle, and all their goods; whatever they were able to have, they despoiled.
10 while they set on fire all the towns where they had settled and all their encampments.	10 Both their cities and their villages, as well as their fortresses, they burned.
11 Then they took all the booty, with the people and beasts they had captured, and brought the captives, together with the spoils and booty,	11 And they carried away prey from everything that they had seized, both of men and of beasts.
12 to Moses and the priest Eleazar and to the Israelite community at their camp on the plains of Moab, along the Jericho stretch of the Jordan.	12 And they led these to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the sons of Israel. But the remainder of the articles they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, next to the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
13 When Moses and the priest Eleazar, with all the princes of the community, went outside the camp to meet them,	13 Then Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them beyond the camp.
14 Moses became angry with the officers of the army, the clan and company commanders, who were returning from combat.	14 And Moses, being angry with the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions, who had arrived from the battle,
15 "So you have spared all the women!" he exclaimed.	15 said: “Why have you spared the females?
16 "Why, they are the very ones who on Balaam's advice prompted the unfaithfulness of the Israelites toward the LORD in the Peor affair, which began the slaughter of the LORD'S community.	16 Are not these the ones who deceived the sons of Israel at the suggestion of Balaam, and who caused you betray the Lord by the sin of Peor, because of which the people also were struck down?
17 Slay, therefore, every male child and every woman who has had intercourse with a man.	17 Therefore, put to death all of them: whatever is of the male sex, even among the little ones, and cut the throats of those women who have known men by sexual relations.
18 But you may spare and keep for yourselves all girls who had no intercourse with a man.	18 But the young girls, and all female virgins, reserve for yourselves.
19 "Moreover, you shall stay outside the camp for seven days, and those of you who have slain anyone or touched anyone slain in battle shall purify yourselves on the third and on the seventh day. This applies both to you and to your captives.	19 And remain beyond the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a man, or who has touched one that was killed, shall be purified on the third day and on the seventh day.
20 You shall also purify every article of cloth, leather, goats' hair, or wood."	20 And all of the spoils, whether it is a garment, or a vessel, or another useful thing, made from the pelts or hair of goats, or from wood, shall be expiated.”
21 Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had returned from combat: "This is what the law, as prescribed by the LORD to Moses, ordains:	21 Likewise, Eleazar the priest spoke in this manner to the men of the army who had fought: “This is the precept of the law, which the Lord has commanded Moses:
22 Whatever can stand fire, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead,	22 Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,
23 you shall put into the fire, that it may become clean; however, it must also be purified with lustral water. But whatever cannot stand fire you shall put into the water.	23 and all that may be able to pass through fire, shall be purified by fire. But whatever is not able to sustain fire shall be sanctified with the waters of expiation.
24 On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes, and then you will again be clean. After that you may enter the camp."	24 And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and, after having been purified, you shall enter the camp.”
25 The LORD said to Moses:	25 And the Lord also said to Moses:
26 "With the help of the priest Eleazar and of the heads of the ancestral houses, count up all the human captives and the beasts that have been taken;	26 “Take the sum of those things which were captured, from man even to beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the common people.
27 then divide them evenly, giving half to those who took active part in the war by going out to combat, and half to the rest of the community.	27 And you shall divide the prey equally, among those who went out to war and fought, and among the remainder of the multitude.
28 You shall levy a tax for the LORD on the warriors who went out to combat: one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, asses and sheep	28 And you shall separate a portion for the Lord from the portion of those who fought and were in the battle: one soul out of five hundred, as much from humans, as from oxen and donkeys and sheep.
29 in their half of the spoil you shall turn over to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the LORD.	29 And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, because these are the first-fruits of the Lord.
30 From the Israelites' half you shall take one out of every fifty persons, and the same from the different beasts, oxen, asses and sheep, and give them to the Levites, who have charge of the LORD'S Dwelling."	30 Likewise, from the half of the portion belonging to the sons of Israel, you shall receive the fiftieth head of humans, and of oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and of all living things, and you shall give these to the Levites who stand watch over the care of the tabernacle of the Lord.”
31 So Moses and the priest Eleazar did this, as the LORD had commanded Moses.	31 And Moses and Eleazar did just as the Lord had instructed.
32 This booty, what was left of the loot which the soldiers had taken, amounted to six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,	32 Now the prey which the army had seized was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,
33 seventy-two thousand oxen,	33 seventy-two thousand oxen,
34 sixty-one thousand asses,	34 sixty-one thousand donkeys,
35 and thirty-two thousand girls who were still virgins.	35 and thirty-two thousand human lives, of the female sex, who had not known men.
36 The half that fell to those who had gone out to combat was: three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,	36 And one half of the portion was given to those who had been in the battle: three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.
37 of which six hundred and seventy-five fell as tax to the LORD;	37 From these, for the portion of the Lord, there were accounted: six hundred seventy-five sheep;
38 thirty-six thousand oxen, of which seventy-two fell as tax to the LORD;	38 and from the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen;
39 thirty thousand five hundred asses, of which sixty-one fell as tax to the LORD;	39 from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, sixty-one donkeys.
40 and sixteen thousand persons, of whom thirty-two fell as tax to the LORD.	40 From the sixteen thousand human souls, there fell to the portion of the Lord thirty-two souls.
41 The taxes contributed to the LORD, Moses gave to the priest Eleazar, as the LORD had commanded him.	41 And Moses delivered the number of the first-fruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, just as had been commanded of him,
42 The half for the other Israelites, which fell to the community when Moses had taken it from the soldiers, was:	42 from the one half portion belonging to the sons of Israel, which he had separated from the portion of those who had been in the battle.
43 three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,	43 Yet truly, from the one half portion which fell to the remainder of the multitude, that is, from the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
44 thirty-six thousand oxen,	44 and from the thirty-six thousand oxen,
45 thirty thousand five hundred asses,	45 and from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
46 and sixteen thousand persons.	46 and from the sixteen thousand persons,
47 From this, the Israelites' share, Moses, as the LORD had ordered, took one out of every fifty, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites, who had charge of the LORD'S Dwelling.	47 Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites who stand watch at the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had instructed.
48 Then the officers who had been clan and company commanders of the army came up to Moses	48 And when the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions had approached Moses, they said:
49 and said to him, "Your servants have counted up the soldiers under our command, and not one is missing.	49 “We, your servants, have taken a census of the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and indeed not one was lacking.
50 So, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD, each of us will bring as an offering to the LORD some gold article he has picked up, such as an anklet, a bracelet, a ring, an earring, or a necklace."	50 For this reason, we offer as gifts to the Lord whatever gold each one was able to find amid the spoils, in anklets and arm bands, rings and bracelets, and little chains, so that you may intercede for us to the Lord.”
51 Moses and the priest Eleazar accepted this gold from them, all of it in well-wrought articles.	51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest received all the gold in its various kinds,
52 The gold that they gave as a contribution to the LORD amounted in all to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. This was from the clan and company commanders;	52 weighing sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels, from the tribunes and the centurions.
53 what the common soldiers had looted each one kept for himself.	53 For whatever each one had taken away in the spoils was his own.
54 Moses, then, and the priest Eleazar accepted the gold from the clan and company commanders, and put it in the meeting tent as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.	54 And having been accepted, they took it into the tabernacle of the testimony, as a memorial of the sons of Israel before the Lord.