Numbers 31
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New King James Version

Numbers 31:15-40

15And Moses said to them: “Have you kept all the women alive?

16Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.

17Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately.

18But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.

19And as for you, remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.

20Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses:

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

23everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water.

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

25Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

26“Count up the plunder that was taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation;

27and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.

28And levy a tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep;

29take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord.

30And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

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

32The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,

33seventy-two thousand cattle,

34sixty-one thousand donkeys,

35and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately.

36And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep;

37and the Lord’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five.

38The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two.

39The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one.

40The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons.

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Commentaries on Numbers 31

New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc