Numbers 31

Numbers 31:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 31:2 “Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward, you will be gathered to your people.”

Numbers 31:3 So Moses spoke to the people, and this is what he said “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute Yahveh’s vengeance on Midian.

Numbers 31:4 You will send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.”

Numbers 31:5 So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

Numbers 31:6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the signal trumpets in his hand.

Numbers 31:7 They warred against Midian, as Yahveh commanded Moses, and killed every male.

Numbers 31:8 They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with the sword.

Numbers 31:9 And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their animals, their flocks, and all their goods.

Numbers 31:10 All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their encampments, they burned with fire,

Numbers 31:11 and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of human and animal.

Numbers 31:12 Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Numbers 31:13 Moses, Eleazar, the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.

Numbers 31:14 And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war.

Numbers 31:15 Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live?

Numbers 31:16 Notice that these, due to Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against Yahveh in the incident of Peor, and this caused the plague to come to the congregation of Yahveh.

Numbers 31:17 Now, therefore, kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.

Numbers 31:18 But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him keep alive for yourselves.

Numbers 31:19 Encamp outside the camp for seven days. Whoever of you has killed any throat and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and the seventh day.

Numbers 31:20 You will purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

Numbers 31:21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the prescription of the instruction that Yahveh has commanded Moses:

Numbers 31:22 only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

Numbers 31:23 everything that can stand the fire, you will pass through the fire, and it will be pure. Nevertheless, it will also be purified with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you will pass through the water.

Numbers 31:24 You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be pure. And afterward, you may come into the camp.”

Numbers 31:25 Yahveh said to Moses,

Numbers 31:26 “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of human and of animal, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the congregation,

Numbers 31:27 and divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.

Numbers 31:28 And levy for Yahveh a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, one out of five hundred, of the humans and the oxen and the donkeys and the flocks.

Numbers 31:29 Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar, the priest, as a contribution to Yahveh.

Numbers 31:30 And from the people of Israel’s half you will take one drawn out of every fifty, of the humans, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep guard over the tabernacle of Yahveh.”

Numbers 31:31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahveh commanded Moses.

Numbers 31:32 Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep,

Numbers 31:33 72,000 animals,

Numbers 31:34 61,000 donkeys,

Numbers 31:35 and 32,000 throats in all, women who had not known man by lying with him.

Numbers 31:36 And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep,

Numbers 31:37 and Yahveh’s tribute of sheep was 675.

Numbers 31:38 The animals were 36,000, of which Yahveh’s tribute was 72.

Numbers 31:39 The donkeys were 30,500, of which Yahveh’s tribute was 61.

Numbers 31:40 The throats were 16,000, of which Yahveh’s tribute was 32 throats.

Numbers 31:41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for Yahveh, to Eleazar, the priest, as Yahveh commanded Moses.

Numbers 31:42 From the people of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army —

Numbers 31:43 the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep,

Numbers 31:44 36,000 animals,

Numbers 31:45 and 30,500 donkeys,

Numbers 31:46 and 16,000 throats —

Numbers 31:47 From the people of Israel’s half, Moses took one of every 50, both humans and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of Yahveh, as Yahveh commanded Moses.

Numbers 31:48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses

Numbers 31:49 and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us.

Numbers 31:50 And we have brought Yahveh’s offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, to provide reconciliation for our throats to the face of Yahveh.”

Numbers 31:51 And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, received from them the gold, all crafted articles.

Numbers 31:52 And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to Yahveh, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.

Numbers 31:53 (The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.)

Numbers 31:54 And Moses and Eleazar,, the priest, received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the conference tent, as a memorial for the people of Israel to the face of Yahveh.

Numbers 31 quotes:

“The people of Israel were not hereby commanded to enter upon this work with vindictive feelings, but as the instruments of a just retribution upon a guilty race who had incurred the divine displeasure by “ the wiles wherewith they had beguiled Israel in the matter of Peor,” ch. 25:18 .”

Bush, George. Notes Critical and Practical on the Book of Numbers. New York: [publisher not identified], 1858. p. 443.

“The justice of God is absolute and equal. He had punished his own people severely for sinning against him, through the temptations of the women of Midian. Now he punishes their tempters and deceivers. His hand smites sins unrepented of, both among his own people and among his enemies. It is probable, if they had surrendered to his people the men and the women who had been guilty of the idolatry and adultery, most probably at the suggestion of Balaam, that they would have been satisfied, and the Lord’s anger might have been turned away from them. But this they failed to do, as Benjamin did in the after years, and so there was nothing left for them but to slay and destroy them.”

DUNN, Lewis R. The Gospel in the Book of Numbers. Hunt & Eaton: New York, 1889. p. 234.

“The time had now come for the fulfilment of the command which had already been given (see chap. xxv. 16-18). after which Moses was to be gathered unto his people, as it had been revealed to him (chap. xxvii. 13).”

Ellicott, C. J. The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers. London: Cassell & Co, 1850. p. 190.

The NUMBERS shelf in Jeff’s library

Day: November 15, 2025

Numbers 31

Numbers 31

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