9The Israelites took the women and children of the Midianites captive, and seized as booty all their beasts, all their herds, and all their wealth. 10And they destroyed by fire all the towns in which they were settled, and their encampments. 11They gathered all the spoil and all the booty, man and beast, 12and they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the whole Israelite community, at the camp in the steppes of Moab, at the Jordan near Jericho.
13Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the chieftains of the community came out to meet them outside the camp. 14Moses became angry with the commanders of the army, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, who had come back from the military campaign. 15Moses said to them, “You have spared every female! 16Yet they are the very ones who, at the bidding of Balaam, inducedb the Israelites to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so that the LORD’s community was struck by the plague. 17Now, therefore, slay every male among the children, and slay also every woman who has known a man carnally; 18but spare every young woman who has not had carnal relations with a man.
19“You shall then stay outside the camp seven days; every one among you or among your captives who has slain a person or touched a corpse shall cleanse himself on the third and seventh days. 20You shall also cleanse every cloth, every article of skin, everything made of goats’ hair, and every object of wood.”
21Eleazar the priest said to the troops who had taken part in the fighting, “This is the ritual law that the LORD has enjoined upon Moses: 22Gold and silver, copper, iron, tin, and lead23—any article that can withstand fire—these you shall pass through fire and they shall be clean, except that they must be cleansed with water of lustration; and anything that cannot withstand fire you must pass through water. 24On the seventh day you shall wash your clothes and be clean, and after that you may enter the camp.”
25The LORD said to Moses: 26“You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the community take an inventory of the booty that was captured, man and beast. 27and divide the booty equally between the combatants who engaged in the campaign and the rest of the community. 28You shall exact a levy for the LORD: in the case of the warriors who engaged in the campaign, one item in five hundred, of persons, oxen, asses, and sheep, 29shall be taken from their half-share and given to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the LORD; 30and from the half-share of the other Israelites you shall withhold one in every fifty human beings as well as cattle, asses, and sheep—all the animals—and give them to the Levites, who attend to the duties of the LORD’s Tabernacle.”
31Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses. 32The amount of booty, other than the spoil that the troops had plundered, came to 675,000 sheep, 3372,000 head of cattle, 3461,000 asses, 35and a total of 32,000 human beings, namely, the women who had not had carnal relations.
36Thus, the half-share of those who had engaged in the campaign [was as follows]: The number of sheep was 337,500, 37and the LORD’s levy from the sheep was 675; 38the cattle came to 36,000, from which the LORD’s levy was 72; 39the asses came to 30,500, from which the LORD’s levy was 61. 40And the number of human beings was 16,000, from which the LORD’s levy was 32. 41Moses gave the contributions levied for the LORD to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
42As for the half-share of the other Israelites, which Moses withdrew from the men who had taken the field, 43that half-share of the community consisted of 337,500 sheep, 4436,000 head of cattle, 4530,500 asses, 46and 16,000 human beings. 47From this half-share of the Israelites, Moses withheld one in every fifty humans and animals; and he gave them to the Levites, who attended to the duties of the LORD’s Tabernacle, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
48The commanders of the troop divisions, the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds, approached Moses. 49They said to Moses, “Your servants have made a check of the warriors in our charge, and not one of us is missing. 50So we have brought as an offering to the LORD such articles of gold as each of us came upon: armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and pendants,c that expiation may be made for our persons before the LORD.” 51Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. 52All the gold that was offered by the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds as a contribution to the LORD came to 16,750 shekels. 53—But in the ranks, everyone kept his booty for himself.—54So Moses and Eleazar the priest accepted the gold from the officers of thousands and the officers of hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting, as a reminder in behalf of the Israelites before the LORD.
32 The Reubenites and the Gadites owned cattle in very great numbers. Noting that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were a region suitable for cattle, 2the Gadites and the Reubenites came to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the chieftains of the community, and said, 3“Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon—4the land that the LORD has conquered for the community of Israel is cattle country, and your servants have cattle. 5It would be a favor to us,” they continued, “if this land were given to your servants as a holding; do not move us across the Jordan.”
6Moses replied to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here? 7Why will you turn the minds of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them? 8That is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to survey the land. 9After going up to the wadi Eshcol and surveying the land, they turned the minds of the Israelites from invading the land that the LORD had given them. 10Thereupon the LORD was incensed and He swore, 11‘None of the men from twenty years up who came out of Egypt shall see the land that I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they did not remain loyal to Me—12none except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they remained loyal to the LORD.’ 13The LORD was incensed at Israel, and for forty years He made them wander in the wilderness, until the whole generation that had provoked the LORD’s displeasure was gone. 14And now you, a breed of sinful men, have replaced your fathers, to add still further to the LORD’s wrath against Israel. 15If you turn away from Him and He abandons them once more in the wilderness, you will bring calamity upon all this people.”
16Then they stepped up to him and said, “We will build here sheepfolds for our flocks and towns for our children. 17And we will hastena as shocktroops in the van of the Israelites until we have established them in their home, while our children stay in the fortified towns because of the inhabitants of the land. 18We will not return to our homes until every one of the Israelites is in possession of his portion. 19But we will not have a share with them in the territory beyond the Jordan, for we have received our share on the east side of the Jordan.”
20Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you go to battle as shocktroops, at the instance of the LORD, 21and every shock-fighter among you crosses the Jordan, at the instance of the LORD, until He has dispossessed His enemies before Him, 22and the land has been subdued, at the instance of the LORD, and then you return—you shall be clear before the LORD and before Israel; and this land shall be your holding under the LORD. 23But if you do not do so, you will have sinned against the LORD; and know that your sin will overtake you. 24Build towns for your children and sheepfolds for your flocks, but do what you have promised.”
25The Gadites and the Reubenites answered Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26Our children, our wives, our flocks, and all our other livestock will stay behindb in the towns of Gilead; 27while your servants, all those recruited for war, cross over, at the instance of the LORD, to engage in battle—as my lord orders.”
28Then Moses gave instructions concerning them to Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the family heads of the Israelite tribes. 29Moses said to them, “If every shock-fighter among the Gadites and the Reubenites crosses the Jordan with you to do battle, at the instance of the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, you shall give them the land of Gilead as a holding. 30But if they do not cross over with you as shock-troops, they shall receive holdings among you in the land of
