Numbers 31:15-40

15“Why did you let all the women live?” he asked them.

16“Remember, they were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the incident that took place at Peor. The Lord’s community experienced a plague at that time.

17So kill all the Midianite boys and every Midianite woman who has gone to bed with a man.

18But save for yourselves every girl who has never gone to bed with a man.

19“Everyone who killed a person or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp seven days. You and your prisoners of war must use the ritual water on the third and seventh days in order to take away your sin.

20Do the same for all the clothes and everything made of leather, goats’ hair, or wood.”

21Then the priest Eleazar said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what the Lord’s teachings told Moses to do:

22Any gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead—

23anything that won’t burn—must be put through fire in order to make it clean. Then it must also be put through the ritual water in order to take away its sin. Whatever might burn must ⌞only⌟ be put through the ritual water.

24On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

25The Lord said to Moses,

26“You, the priest Eleazar, and the heads of the families of the community need to count all the loot, including the people and animals you captured.

27Divide the loot between the soldiers who served in the war and the rest of the community.

28Collect a tax for the Lord. From the soldiers who served in the war collect one out of every 500 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, and goats.

29Collect all these things from the soldiers’ half of the loot, and give them to the priest Eleazar as a contribution to the Lord.

30From the Israelites’ half of the loot, collect one out of every 50 things. This includes people, cattle, donkeys, sheep, goats, and every other kind of animal. Give them to the Levites who are in charge of the work done at the Lord’s tent.”

31Moses and the priest Eleazar did as the Lord commanded Moses.

32This is the loot that was left from everything that the troops took: 675,000 sheep and goats,

3372,000 cattle,

3461,000 donkeys, and

3532,000 women who had never gone to bed with a man.

36Half of it went to the soldiers who served in the war. Of the 337,500 sheep and goats they received,

37675 went to the Lord as taxes.

38Of the 36,000 cattle they received, 72 went to the Lord as taxes.

39Of the 30,500 donkeys they received, 61 went to the Lord as taxes.

40Of the 16,000 people they received, 32 went to the Lord as taxes.