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Numbers 31
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Chapter 31
IX.
BOOTY AND ITS ALLOCATION
The holy war against Midian
1
Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
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‘Exact full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites. Afterwards you will be gathered to your people.’ Moses said to the people,
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‘Some of you must take arms to wage Yahweh’s campaign against Midian, to carry out the vengeance of Yahweh on Midian.
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Put a thousand men in the field from each of the tribes of Israel.’
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In this way Israel’s hosts provided twelve thousand men equipped for war, one thousand from each tribe:
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Moses put them in the field, one thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, to go with them carrying the sacred vessels and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.
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They waged the campaign against Midian, as Yahweh had ordered Moses, and they put every male to death.
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And further, they killed the kings of Midian, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba, the five Midianite kings; they also put Balaam son of Beor to the sword.
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The sons of Israel took the Midianite women captive with their young children, and plundered all their cattle, all their flocks. and all their goods.
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They set fire to the towns where they lived and all their encampments.
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Then, taking all their booty, all that they had captured, man and beast,
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they took the captives, spoil and booty to Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the community of the sons of Israel, at the camp in the plains of Moab, near the Jordan opposite Jericho.
The slaughter of the women and purification of the booty
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Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out of the camp to meet them.
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Moses was enraged with the commanders of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come back from this military expedition.
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He said, ‘Why have you spared the life of all the women?
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These were the very ones who, on Balaam’s advice, perverted the sons of Israel and made them renounce Yahweh in the affair at Peor: hence the plague which struck the community of Israel.
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So kill all the male children. Kill also all the women who have slept with a man.
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Spare the lives only of the young girls who have not slept with a man, and take them for yourselves.
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As for you, you must camp for seven days outside the camp, all of you who have killed a man or touched a corpse. Purify yourselves, you and your prisoners, on the third and seventh days;
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purify also all clothing, everything made of skin, everything woven of goats’ hair and everything made of wood.’
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Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had come back from this campaign, ‘This is a statute of the Law which Yahweh has commanded Moses.
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Whereas the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead,
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everything that can withstand fire, must be passed through the fire and it will be clean, yet it must still be purified with lustral water. Whatever cannot resist fire you must pass through water.
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‘Wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will then be clean. You may then come back to the camp.’
The allocation of the booty
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Yahweh spoke to Moses and said:
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‘With Eleazar the priest and the heads of families in the community, count the spoils and the captives, man and beast.
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Then share out the spoil, half and half, between those who fought the campaign and the rest of the community.
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As Yahweh’s portion you will set aside, from the share of the combatants who took part in the campaign, one out of every five hundred persons, oxen, donkeys and sheep.
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These are to be taken from the half share which is their due, and given to Eleazar the priest as an offering to Yahweh.
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From the half which is due to the sons of Israel, you will take one out of every fifty persons, oxen, donkeys, sheep, and all other animals, and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.’
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Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh had ordered Moses.
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The spoils, the remainder of the booty captured by the soldiers, came to six hundred and seventy-five thousand head of small stock,
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seventy-two thousand head of cattle,
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sixty-one thousand donkeys,
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and in persons, women who had never slept with a man, thirty-two thousand in all.
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Half was assigned to those who had taken part in the war, namely three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred head of small stock,
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of which Yahweh’s portion was six hundred and seventy-five,
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thirty-six thousand head of cattle, of which Yahweh’s portion was seventy-two.
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Thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, of which Yahweh’s
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portion was sixty-one, and sixteen thousand persons, of which Yahweh’s portion was thirty-two.
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Moses gave Eleazar the priest the portion set aside for Yahweh, in accordance with Yahweh’s instructions to Moses.
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As for the half due to the sons of Israel, which Moses had separated from that of the combatants,
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this half, the community’s share, came to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred head of small stock,
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thirty-six thousand head of cattle,
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thirty thousand five hundred donkeys
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and sixteen thousand persons.
47
From this half, the share of the sons of Israel, Moses took one out of every fifty, man and beast, and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh, in accordance with Yahweh’s instructions to Moses.
The offerings
48
The commanders of the hosts who had fought the campaign, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, came to Moses
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and said, ‘Your servants have numbered the soldiers under their command: not one is missing.
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And further, we bring as an offering for Yahweh the gold ornaments we have found, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and brooches, to have the rite of atonement performed over us before Yahweh.’
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Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted this gold from them, all this jewellery.
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This offering of gold given by them to Yahweh amounted to sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, all given by the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds.
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Each of the soldiers took his own booty.
54
But Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and carried it to the Tent of Meeting as a reminder to Yahweh of the sons of Israel.
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