Numbers 31

¹³After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;

¹⁴The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.

¹⁵And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁰After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works that He had done for Israel.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”

¹O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth.

²Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.

⁸And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

²⁵And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

¹³It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

¹⁶“Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the Lord. The Lord will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

³⁰Nevertheless, the Lord said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in carrying out what is right in My sight and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, four generations of your sons will sit on the throne of Israel.”

¹¹“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal.

²“When the princes take the lead in Israel, when the people volunteer, bless the Lord.

⁶Jonathan said to the young man bearing his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the outpost of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the Lord will work on our behalf. Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few.”

⁸Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

²Then the Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’

⁴⁴But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the Lord moved from the camp.

⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, are to sound the trumpets. This shall be a permanent statute for you and the generations to come.

⁹When you enter into battle in your land against an adversary who attacks you, sound short blasts on the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God and saved from your enemies.

¹²Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹³Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to ambush from the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them.

⁴Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns.

⁵And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all your people will charge straight into the city.”

¹³And the seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns kept marching ahead of the ark of the Lord and blowing the horns. The armed troops went in front of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the horns kept sounding.

¹⁴So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁷The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

¹¹This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”

¹⁵Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab the commander of the army had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.

¹⁶Joab and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he had killed every male in Edom.

⁹Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish,

¹Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the Lord; so He delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years,

²and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in the mountains, caves, and strongholds.

¹³When the Lord your God has delivered it into your hand, you must put every male to the sword.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.

³³Then all the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east gathered together, crossed over the Jordan, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.

²¹all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon until Moses killed him and the chiefs of Midian (Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba), the princes of Sihon who lived in the land.

²²The Israelites also killed the diviner Balaam son of Beor along with the others they put to the sword.

¹⁵And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

¹¹Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed for profit into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.

¹⁸For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”

²⁰But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

⁸Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their kinsmen—women, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a great deal of plunder and brought it to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the Lord, the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.

⁵So the Lord his God delivered Ahaz into the hand of the king of Aram, who attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him with great force.

¹⁵“Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.

¹⁶“Look, these women caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to turn unfaithfully against the Lord at Peor, so that the plague struck the congregation of the Lord.

⁷Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.

¹On the third day David and his men arrived in Ziklag, and the Amalekites had raided the Negev, attacked Ziklag, and burned it down.

⁸Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

¹⁶Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.

²⁴Then the Israelites burned up the city and everything in it. However, they put the silver and gold and articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

¹⁶These were the sons of Ishmael, and these were their names by their villages and encampments—twelve princes of their tribes.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.

²And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set up an ambush behind the city.”

¹Then the Israelites traveled on and camped in the plains of Moab near the Jordan, across from Jericho.

¹²They brought the captives, spoils, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).

¹²Early in the morning Samuel got up to confront Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel, and behold, he has set up a monument for himself and has turned and gone down to Gilgal.”

²¹When David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and who were left behind at the Brook of Besor, they came out to meet him and the troops with him. As David approached the men, he greeted them,

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

²³everything that can withstand the fire—must be put through the fire, and it will be clean. But it must still be purified with the water of purification. And everything that cannot withstand the fire must pass through the water.

¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

⁴⁸Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and of hundreds—approached Moses

¹⁹As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he burned with anger and threw the tablets out of his hands, shattering them at the base of the mountain.

¹⁶Later, Moses searched carefully for the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned up. He was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, and asked,

³Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

¹³When Samuel reached him, Saul said to him, “May the Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

¹⁴But Samuel replied, “Then what is this bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle that I hear?”

²⁶“Be angry, yet do not sin.” Do not let the sun set upon your anger,

³Now go and attack the Amalekites and devote to destruction all that belongs to them. Do not spare them, but put to death men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

³⁴At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors.

¹⁰Cursed is the one who is remiss in doing the work of the Lord, and cursed is he who withholds his sword from bloodshed.

⁸O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us.

⁹Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

⁴⁰So Joshua conquered the whole region—the hill country, the Negev, the foothills, and the slopes, together with all their kings—leaving no survivors. He devoted to destruction everything that breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded.

⁶Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

¹⁵They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.

¹While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,

²who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.

³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.

¹⁷Was not the sin of Peor enough for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day? It even brought a plague upon the congregation of the Lord.

¹⁴Now I am going back to my people, but come, let me warn you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.”

¹⁶However, in the cities of the nations that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not leave alive anything that breathes.

¹⁷For you must devote them to complete destruction—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—as the Lord your God has commanded you,

¹¹This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”

¹²So they found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young women who had not had relations with a man, and they brought them to the camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.

²and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you to defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.

¹⁰When you go to war against your enemies and the Lord your God delivers them into your hand and you take them captive,

¹¹if you see a beautiful woman among them, and you desire her and want to take her as your wife,

⁴⁴Your menservants and maidservants shall come from the nations around you, from whom you may purchase them.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.

⁸Then the Israelites took 200,000 captives from their kinsmen—women, sons, and daughters. They also carried off a great deal of plunder and brought it to Samaria.

⁹But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army that returned to Samaria. “Look,” he said to them, “because of His wrath against Judah, the Lord, the God of your fathers, has delivered them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches up to heaven.

²The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the Lord’s land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.

²“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone with a skin disease, anyone who has a bodily discharge, and anyone who is defiled by a dead body.

¹¹Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days.

¹²He must purify himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean.

⁸but this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and waged great wars. You are not to build a house for My Name because you have shed so much blood on the ground before Me.

²So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

¹⁰Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

¹⁴This is the law when a person dies in a tent: Everyone who enters the tent and everyone already in the tent will be unclean for seven days,

¹⁵and any open container without a lid fastened on it is unclean.

²²Anything the unclean person touches will become unclean, and anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening.”

¹⁶These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the relationship between a man and his wife, and between a father and a young daughter still in his home.

⁹Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and store them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They must be kept by the congregation of Israel for preparing the water of purification; this is for purification from sin.

¹³his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work.

¹⁷For the purification of the unclean person, take some of the ashes of the burnt sin offering, put them in a jar, and pour fresh water over them.

¹¹I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

²When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

³²When one of them dies and falls on something, that article becomes unclean; any article of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work must be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.

²⁵and whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening.

¹⁹The man who is ceremonially clean is to sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. After he purifies the unclean person on the seventh day, the one being cleansed must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and that evening he will be clean.

¹³When the man has been cleansed from his discharge, he must count off seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe himself in fresh water, and he shall be clean.

⁹On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—his head, his beard, his eyebrows, and the rest of his hair. He must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and he will be clean.

⁸saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”

²⁴Who will listen to your proposal? The share of the one who went to battle will match the share of the one who stayed with the supplies. They will share alike.”

²⁵And so it has been from that day forward. David established this statute and ordinance for Israel to this very day.

¹²“Kings and their armies flee in haste; she who waits at home divides the plunder.

⁴So David and the troops with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had no strength left to weep.

²⁶“Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tithe of the tithe.

⁴⁷From the Israelites’ half, Moses took one out of every fifty persons and animals and gave them to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord had commanded him.

³⁰From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

⁹Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;

¹⁰then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.

¹¹and King David dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold he had carried off from all these nations—from Edom and Moab, and from the Ammonites, Philistines, and Amalekites.

²⁶“Speak to the Levites and tell them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe that I have given you as your inheritance, you must present part of it as an offering to the Lord—a tithe of the tithe.

¹²And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

¹⁹and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁷Consecrate for Aaron and his sons the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the heave offering that is lifted up from the ram of ordination.

⁷They are to perform duties for him and for the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, attending to the service of the tabernacle.

⁸They shall take care of all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and fulfill obligations for the Israelites by attending to the service of the tabernacle.

³¹Their duties were the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the articles of the sanctuary used with them, and the curtain—all the service for these items.

²⁵The duties of the Gershonites at the Tent of Meeting were the tabernacle and tent, its covering, the curtain for the entrance to the Tent of Meeting,

²⁰Now their fellow Levites were in charge of the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated things.

²¹From the descendants of Ladan, who were Gershonites through Ladan and heads of the families of Ladan the Gershonite, were Jehieli,

²³The Levites are to perform the work of the Tent of Meeting, and they must bear their iniquity. This is a permanent statute for the generations to come. The Levites will not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.

²⁴For I have given to the Levites as their inheritance the tithe that the Israelites present to the Lord as a contribution. That is why I told them that they would not receive an inheritance among the Israelites.”

²Now it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.

⁸Then the Lord said to Aaron, “Behold, I have put you in charge of My offerings. As for all the sacred offerings of the Israelites, I have given them to you and your sons as a portion and a permanent statute.

¹⁹All the holy offerings that the Israelites present to the Lord I give to you and to your sons and daughters as a permanent statute. It is a permanent covenant of salt before the Lord for you and your offspring.”

²⁹Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the Lord.

³⁰From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

⁶Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word must share in all good things with his instructor.

¹⁰Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.

¹⁰Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest.

¹¹If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you?

³⁰From the Israelites’ half, take one out of every fifty, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or other animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

¹After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place He was about to visit.

²And He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest.

¹⁷Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.

¹⁸Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the Lord your God in all you do,

²¹Behold, I have given to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as an inheritance in return for the work they do, the service of the Tent of Meeting.

²²No longer may the Israelites come near to the Tent of Meeting, or they will incur guilt and die.

¹⁰Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber.

¹¹Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:

¹²But we ask you, brothers, to acknowledge those who work diligently among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.

¹³In love, hold them in highest regard because of their work. Live in peace with one another.

⁹This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.”

¹⁸So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.

¹⁹Nothing was missing, young or old, son or daughter, or any of the plunder the Amalekites had taken. David brought everything back.

¹⁴He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.

¹²“When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each man must pay the Lord a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will come upon them when they are numbered.

¹⁵In making the offering to the Lord to atone for your lives, the rich shall not give more than a half shekel, nor shall the poor give less.

¹⁶Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord to make atonement for your lives.”

¹²How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?

¹⁵Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving devotion and His wonders to the sons of men.

¹⁷I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord.

¹¹For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.

²And the leaders of Israel, the heads of their families, presented an offering. These men were the tribal leaders who had supervised the registration.

³They brought as their offering before the Lord six covered carts and twelve oxen—an ox from each leader and a cart from every two leaders—and presented them before the tabernacle.

¹⁴But the women, children, livestock, and whatever else is in the city—all its spoil—you may take as plunder, and you shall use the spoil of your enemies that the Lord your God gives you.

³²and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,

¹⁶Take the atonement money from the Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent of Meeting. It will serve as a memorial for the Israelites before the Lord to make atonement for your lives.”

¹⁴The crown will reside in the temple of the Lord as a memorial to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and the gracious son of Zephaniah.

⁴⁰just as the Lord commanded him through Moses. This was to be a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider who is not a descendant of Aaron should approach to offer incense before the Lord, lest he become like Korah and his followers.

¹Of David. Bless the Lord, O my soul; all that is within me, bless His holy name.

²Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—

⁷you are to tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever.”

¹⁹And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”