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Israel Fights Back Against the Midianites 

31 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 2“I will help the people of Israel get even with the Midianites. After that, Moses, you will die.*” 3So Moses spoke to the people. He said, “Choose some of your men to be soldiers. The Lord will use those men to get even with the Midianites. 4Choose 1,000 men from each of the family groups of Israel. 5There will be a total of 12,000 soldiers from the family groups of Israel.” 6Moses sent those 12,000 men to war. He sent Phineas, the son of Eleazar the priest, with them. Phineas took the holy things and the horns and trumpets with him. 7The people of Israel fought the Midianites like the Lord had commanded. They killed all of the Midianite men. 8Among the people that they killed were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with a sword. 9The people of Israel took the Midianite women and children as prisoners. They also took all their sheep, cows, and other things. 10Then they burned all their towns and villages. 11They took all the people and animals 12and brought them to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the other people of Israel. They brought all of the things they took in war to the camp of Israel. The people of Israel were camped in the Jordan Valley in Moab. This was on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. 13Then Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the people went out of the camp to meet with the soldiers. 14Moses was very angry against the leaders of the army. He was angry against the commanders of 1,000 men and against the commanders of 100 men that came back from the war. 15Moses said to them, “Why did you let the women live? 16These are the women who caused the men of Israel to turn away from the Lord during the Balaam incident—that time at Peor. The disease will again come to the Lord’s people. 17Now, kill all the Midianite boys. And kill all the Midianite women who had lived with a man. Kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations with any man. 18You can let all the young girls live—but only if they never had sexual relations with any man. 19And then, all of you men who killed other people must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must stay outside the camp even if you just touched a dead body. On the third day, you and your prisoners must make yourselves pure. You must do the same thing again on the seventh day. 20You must wash all of your clothes. You must wash anything made with leather, wool, or wood. You must become pure.” 21Then Eleazar the priest spoke to the soldiers. He said, “Those are the rules that the Lord gave to Moses. Those rules are about soldiers coming back from war. 22–23But the rules for things that can be put in the fire are different. You must put gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead into the fire. And then wash those things with water and they will be pure. If things cannot be put in fire, then you must still wash them with water. 24On the seventh day you must wash all of your clothes. Then you will become pure. After that you can come into camp.” 25Then the Lord said to Moses, 26“You, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders should count all of the prisoners, animals, and all of the things that the soldiers took in war. 27Then divide those things between the soldiers that went to war and the rest of the people of Israel. 28Take part of those things from the soldiers that went to war. That part will belong to the Lord. The Lord’s share is one thing for every 500 things. This includes people, cows, donkeys, and sheep. 29Take those things from the soldiers’ half of the things they took in war. Then give those things to Eleazar the priest. That part will belong to the Lord. 30And then, from the people’s half, take one thing for every 50 things. This includes people, cows, donkeys, sheep, or any other animal. Give that share to the Levites. Why? Because the Levites take care of the Lord’s Holy Tent.” 31So Moses and Eleazar did what the Lord commanded Moses. 32The soldiers had taken 675,000 sheep, 3372,000 cows, 3461,000 donkeys, 35and 32,000 women. (Those are only the women who had not had sexual relations with any man.) 36The soldiers that went to war got 337,500 sheep. 37They gave 675 sheep to the Lord. 38The soldiers got 36,000 cows. They gave 72 cows to the Lord. 39The soldiers got 30,500 donkeys. They gave 61 donkeys to the Lord. 40The soldiers got 16,000 women. They gave 32 women to the Lord. 41Moses gave all of those gifts for the Lord to Eleazar the priest, like the Lord had commanded him. 42Then {Moses counted} the people’s half. This was their share that Moses had taken from the soldiers that had gone to war. 43The people got 337,500 sheep, 4436,000 cows, 4530,500 donkeys, 46and 16,000 women. 47For every 50 things, Moses took one thing for the Lord. This included the animals and the people. Then he gave those things to the Levites. Why? Because they took care of the Lord’s Holy Tent. Moses did this like the Lord commanded. 48Then the leaders of the army (the leaders over 1,000 men and the leaders over 100 men) came to Moses. 49They told Moses, “We, your servants, have counted our soldiers. We have not missed any of them. 50So we are bringing the Lord’s gift from every soldier. We are bringing things that are made of gold—arm bands, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces. This gift to the Lord is to make us pure.*” 51So Moses took all of those things made from gold and gave them to Eleazar the priest. 52The gold that the leaders of 1,000 men and the leaders of 100 men gave to the Lord weighed about 420 pounds.* 53The soldiers kept the rest of their share of the things they took in war. 54Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the leaders of 1,000 men and the leaders of 100 men. Then they put that gold in the Meeting Tent.* This present was a memorial* before the Lord for the people of Israel.

you will die Literally, “you will be gathered to your people.” make … pure Or, “make atonement.” The Hebrew word means “to cover,” “to hide,” or “to erase sins.” 420 pounds Literally, “16,750 shekels.” Meeting Tent The Holy Tent (tabernacle) where the people of Israel went to meet with God. memorial Something that helps people remember things that happened in the past.

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