rsv Numbers:31-32 SEEK
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The LORD said to Moses ,
* "
Avenge the people of Israel on the Mid '
ianites ;
afterward you shall be gathered to your people ."
*
And Moses said to the people , "
Arm men from among you for the war ,
that they may go against Mid '
ian ,
to execute the LORD '
s vengeance on Mid '
ian .
*
You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war ."
*
So there were provided ,
out of the thousands of Israel ,
a thousand from each tribe ,
twelve thousand armed for war .
*
And Moses sent them to the war ,
a thousand from each tribe ,
together with Phin '
ehas the son of Elea '
zar the priest ,
with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand .
*
They warred against Mid '
ian ,
as the LORD commanded Moses ,
and slew every male .
*
They slew the kings of Mid '
ian with the rest of their slain ,
Evi ,
Rekem ,
Zur ,
Hur ,
and Reba ,
the five kings of Mid '
ian ;
and they also slew Balaam the son of Be '
or with the sword .
*
And the people of Israel took captive the women of Mid '
ian and their little ones ;
and they took as booty all their cattle ,
their flocks ,
and all their goods .
*
All their cities in the places where they dwelt ,
and all their encampments ,
they burned with fire ,
*
and took all the spoil and all the booty ,
both of man and of beast .
*
Then they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses ,
and to Elea '
zar the priest ,
and to the congregation of the people of Israel ,
at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho .
*
Moses ,
and Elea '
zar the priest ,
and all the leaders of the congregation ,
went forth to meet them outside the camp .
*
And Moses was angry with the officers of the army ,
the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds ,
who had come from service in the war .
*
Moses said to them , "
Have you let all the women live ?
*
Behold ,
these caused the people of Israel ,
by the counsel of Balaam ,
to act treacherously against the LORD in the matter of Pe '
or ,
and so the plague came among the congregation of the LORD .
*
Now therefore ,
kill every male among the little ones ,
and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him .
*
But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him ,
keep alive for yourselves .
*
Encamp outside the camp seven days ;
whoever of you has killed any person ,
and whoever has touched any slain ,
purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day .
*
You shall purify every garment ,
every article of skin ,
all work of goats '
hair ,
and every article of wood ."
*
And Elea '
zar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle : "
This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses :
*
only the gold ,
the silver ,
the bronze ,
the iron ,
the tin ,
and the lead ,
*
everything that can stand the fire ,
you shall pass through the fire ,
and it shall be clean .
Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity ;
and whatever cannot stand the fire ,
you shall pass through the water .
*
You must wash your clothes on the seventh day ,
and you shall be clean ;
and afterward you shall come into the camp ."
*
The LORD said to Moses ,
* "
Take the count of the booty that was taken ,
both of man and of beast ,
you and Elea '
zar the priest and the heads of the fathers '
houses of the congregation ;
*
and divide the booty into two parts ,
between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation .
*
And levy for the LORD a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle ,
one out of five hundred ,
of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the flocks ;
*
take it from their half ,
and give it to Elea '
zar the priest as an offering to the LORD .
*
And from the people of Israel '
s half you shall take one drawn out of every fifty ,
of the persons ,
of the oxen ,
of the asses ,
and of the flocks ,
of all the cattle ,
and give them to the Levites who have charge of the tabernacle of the LORD ."
*
And Moses and Elea '
zar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses .
*
Now the booty remaining of the spoil that the men of war took was :
six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep ,
*
seventy-two thousand cattle ,
*
sixty-one thousand asses ,
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and thirty-two thousand persons in all ,
women who had not known man by lying with him .
*
And the half ,
the portion of those who had gone out to war ,
was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep ,
*
and the LORD '
s tribute of sheep was six hundred and seventy-five .
*
The cattle were thirty-six thousand ,
of which the LORD '
s tribute was seventy-two .
*
The asses were thirty thousand five hundred ,
of which the LORD '
s tribute was sixty-one .
*
The persons were sixteen thousand ,
of which the LORD '
s tribute was thirty-two persons .
*
And Moses gave the tribute ,
which was the offering for the LORD ,
to Elea '
zar the priest ,
as the LORD commanded Moses .
*
From the people of Israel '
s half ,
which Moses separated from that of the men who had gone to war --
*
now the congregation '
s half was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep ,
*
thirty-six thousand cattle ,
*
and thirty thousand five hundred asses ,
*
and sixteen thousand persons --
*
from the people of Israel '
s half Moses took one of every fifty ,
both of persons and of beasts ,
and gave them to the Levites who had charge of the tabernacle of the LORD ;
as the LORD commanded Moses .
*
Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army ,
the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds ,
came near to Moses ,
*
and said to Moses , "
Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command ,
and there is not a man missing from us .
*
And we have brought the LORD '
s offering ,
what each man found ,
articles of gold ,
armlets and bracelets ,
signet rings ,
earrings ,
and beads ,
to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD ."
*
And Moses and Elea '
zar the priest received from them the gold ,
all wrought articles .
*
And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the LORD ,
from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds ,
was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels .
* (
The men of war had taken booty ,
every man for himself .)
*
And Moses and Elea '
zar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds ,
and brought it into the tent of meeting ,
as a memorial for the people of Israel before the LORD .
*
Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had a very great multitude of cattle ;
and they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead ,
and behold ,
the place was a place for cattle .
*
So the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Elea '
zar the priest and to the leaders of the congregation ,
* "
At '
aroth ,
Dibon ,
Jazer ,
Nimrah ,
Heshbon ,
Elea '
leh ,
Sebam ,
Nebo ,
and Be '
on ,
*
the land which the LORD smote before the congregation of Israel ,
is a land for cattle ;
and your servants have cattle ."
*
And they said , "
If we have found favor in your sight ,
let this land be given to your servants for a possession ;
do not take us across the Jordan ."
*
But Moses said to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben , "
Shall your brethren go to the war while you sit here ?
*
Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land which the LORD has given them ?
*
Thus did your fathers ,
when I sent them from Ka '
desh-bar '
nea to see the land .
*
For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol ,
and saw the land ,
they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land which the LORD had given them .
*
And the LORD '
s anger was kindled on that day ,
and he swore ,
saying ,
* `
Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt ,
from twenty years old and upward ,
shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham ,
to Isaac ,
and to Jacob ,
because they have not wholly followed me ;
*
none except Caleb the son of Jephun '
neh the Ken '
izzite and Joshua the son of Nun ,
for they have wholly followed the LORD .'
*
And the LORD '
s anger was kindled against Israel ,
and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years ,
until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the LORD was consumed .
*
And behold ,
you have risen in your fathers '
stead ,
a brood of sinful men ,
to increase still more the fierce anger of the LORD against Israel !
*
For if you turn away from following him ,
he will again abandon them in the wilderness ;
and you will destroy all this people ."
*
Then they came near to him ,
and said , "
We will build sheepfolds here for our flocks ,
and cities for our little ones ,
*
but we will take up arms ,
ready to go before the people of Israel ,
until we have brought them to their place ;
and our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land .
*
We will not return to our homes until the people of Israel have inherited each his inheritance .
*
For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond ;
because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east ."
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So Moses said to them , "
If you will do this ,
if you will take up arms to go before the LORD for the war ,
*
and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the LORD ,
until he has driven out his enemies from before him
*
and the land is subdued before the LORD ;
then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel ;
and this land shall be your possession before the LORD .
*
But if you will not do so ,
behold ,
you have sinned against the LORD ;
and be sure your sin will find you out .
*
Build cities for your little ones ,
and folds for your sheep ;
and do what you have promised ."
*
And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben said to Moses , "
Your servants will do as my lord commands .
*
Our little ones ,
our wives ,
our flocks ,
and all our cattle ,
shall remain there in the cities of Gilead ;
*
but your servants will pass over ,
every man who is armed for war ,
before the LORD to battle ,
as my lord orders ."
*
So Moses gave command concerning them to Elea '
zar the priest ,
and to Joshua the son of Nun ,
and to the heads of the fathers '
houses of the tribes of the people of Israel .
*
And Moses said to them , "
If the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben ,
every man who is armed to battle before the LORD ,
will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you ,
then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession ;
*
but if they will not pass over with you armed ,
they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan ."
*
And the sons of Gad and the sons of Reuben answered , "
As the LORD has said to your servants ,
so we will do .
*
We will pass over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan ,
and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan ."
*
And Moses gave to them ,
to the sons of Gad and to the sons of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manas '
seh the son of Joseph ,
the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan ,
the land and its cities with their territories ,
the cities of the land throughout the country .
*
And the sons of Gad built Dibon ,
At '
aroth ,
Aro '
er ,
*
At '
roth-sho '
phan ,
Jazer ,
Jog '
behah ,
*
Beth-nim '
rah and Beth-har '
an ,
fortified cities ,
and folds for sheep .
*
And the sons of Reuben built Heshbon ,
Elea '
leh ,
Kiriatha '
im ,
*
Nebo ,
and Ba '
al-me '
on (
their names to be changed ),
and Sibmah ;
and they gave other names to the cities which they built .
*
And the sons of Machir the son of Manas '
seh went to Gilead and took it ,
and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it .
*
And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manas '
seh ,
and he settled in it .
*
And Ja '
ir the son of Manas '
seh went and took their villages ,
and called them Hav '
voth-ja '
ir .
*
And Nobah went and took Kenath and its villages ,
and called it Nobah ,
after his own name .
*
These are the stages of the people of Israel ,
when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the leadership of Moses and Aaron .