Numbers

Tells about the Israelites' 40 years in the desert, including their travels and the census of their tribes.

Chapter 31

1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.

*Punish the Midianites for harming the Israelite children; then you will join your people.

3 And Moses spake unto the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves unto the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD of Midian.

*Moses told the people, "Get some of you ready for battle against the Midianites. This will be to avenge God's revenge on Midian."

4 Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.

*Send one thousand people from each tribe to fight in the war, from all the tribes of Israel.

5 So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

*From the many people of Israel, they took one thousand from each tribe, totaling twelve thousand ready for battle.

6 And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.

*Moses sent 1,000 people from each tribe, along with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, to fight in the war. They had holy objects and trumpets to use during the battle.

7 And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.

*So, they fought against the Midianites, just like God told Moses to do, and they killed all the boys.

8 And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

*They killed the leaders of Midian, along with the others who died. These leaders were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They were all five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, using a sword.

9 And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.

*The Israelite kids captured all the women from Midian, along with their children, and seized all their animals, sheep, and belongings.

10 And they burnt all their cities wherein they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.

*They set fire to and destroyed all the cities where they lived, as well as their beautiful castles.

11 And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.

*And they grabbed everything they could take, from people and animals alike.

12 And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, unto Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and unto the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.

*They brought the captured people, stolen goods, and destruction to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the Israelites at their camp in the Moab plains, close to Jordan and Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

*Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the group left the camp to greet others outside.

14 And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came from the battle.

*Moses got angry with the leaders of his army, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, who returned from the fight.

15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive?

*And Moses asked, "Did you save all the living women?"

16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

*Look, these people made the Israelites, with Balaam's advice, do something wrong against God concerning Peor, and a sickness happened to God's group of people.

17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

*Now, so kill all young boys and any woman who has had sex with a man.

18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

*But save all young girls who haven't been with a man, for your own good.

19 And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whosoever hath killed any person, and whosoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

*Stay outside the camp for seven days. If someone has killed a person or touched the dead, clean yourselves and your prisoners on the third day and again on the seventh day.

20 And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats’ hair, and all things made of wood.

*Clean all your clothes and leather items, as well as goat hair stuff and wooden things.

21 And Eleazar the priest said unto the men of war which went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;

*Eleazar the priest told the fighting men, "This is what the law says God commanded Moses."

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

*Only gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead are mentioned.

23 Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.

*Anything that can survive being burned should be passed through fire; it will be clean. However, it must also be purified using separate water. Anything that doesn't survive the fire must be passed through this water.

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

*On the seventh day, wash your clothes to be clean, then you may enter the camp.

25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

*And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

26 Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:

*Add up the total of captured people, including humans and animals. You, Eleazar the priest, and the important leaders of the group should do this.

27 And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:

*Split the captured goods into two parts - one for those who fought, and another for the entire group.

28 And levy a tribute unto the Lord of the men of war which went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:

*Collect a tax from the warriors who went to fight, based on every 500 people or animals - this includes people, cows, donkeys, and sheep.

29 Take it of their half, and give it unto Eleazar the priest, for an heave offering of the LORD.

*Take half of it and give it to Eleazar the priest as a special gift for God.

30 And of the children of Israel’s half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them unto the Levites, which keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.

*From half of Israel's children, take one part out of fifty made up of people, cows, donkeys, and animals of various kinds, and give it to the Levites who look after the LORD's dwelling place.

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.

*And Moses and Eleazar, the priest, followed what God told Moses to do.

32 And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had caught, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,

*The captured prey, left by the warriors, consisted of a total of six million, seven hundred thousand and five thousand sheep.

33 And threescore and twelve thousand beeves,

*And sixty-two thousand cows,

34 And threescore and one thousand asses,

*And 61,000 donkeys,

35 And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.

*A total of 32,000 women who never had sexual intercourse with a man.

36 And the half, which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:

*Half of those who went to fight had 307,500 + 500 sheep.

37 And the LORD’s tribute of the sheep was six hundred and threescore and fifteen.

*And the LORD's number of sheep was 635.

38 And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and twelve.

*And there were 36,000 cows; from these, the LORD's share was 72.

39 And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD’s tribute was threescore and one.

*There were 30,005 donkeys. The LORD's share was 71.

40 And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORD’s tribute was thirty and two persons.

*There were 16,000 people; the LORD required 32 of them as a tribute.

41 And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD’s heave offering, unto Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.

*Moses gave the special gift to Eleazar, the priest, just like God told him to do.

42 And of the children of Israel’s half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,

*And half of Israel's children, whom Moses separated from the fighting men,

43 (Now the half that pertained unto the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,

*The half belonging to the group had 300,003,750 sheep.

44 And thirty and six thousand beeves,

*And 36,000 cows.

45 And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,

*And 30,000 donkeys and 500 more.

46 And sixteen thousand persons;)

*And 16,000 people. The response simplifies the phrase by converting the numeral "sixteen thousand" into words and using a comma instead of the semicolon for better readability.

47 Even of the children of Israel’s half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them unto the Levites, which kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

*Moses gave half of the gifts from the Israelites to the Levites, who took care of the tent where God lived, just like God told him to do so.

48 And the officers which were over thousands of the host, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near unto Moses:

*The leaders in charge of thousands of soldiers, along with those in charge of hundreds, approached Moses.

49 And they said unto Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war which are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.

*They told Moses, "Your helpers counted all the warriors we are responsible for, and we don't need any more."

50 We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath gotten, of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.

*So we gave a gift to God, with everything each person had, like gold jewelry, chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and stone tablets, to forgive our souls in front of God.

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.

*Moses and Eleazar the priest collected all the gold and fancy jewelry from them.

52 And all the gold of the offering that they offered up to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.

*The total gold from the offering given to God by the leaders of thousands and hundreds was 16,750 shekels.

53 (For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)

*The soldiers had taken loot, each person taking what they could for themselves.

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.

*Moses and Eleazar, the priest, collected gold from the leaders of thousands and hundreds and brought it to the meeting place for the people. They did this to help the children of Israel remember their special connection with God.

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