The Madianites are slain for having drawn the people of Israel into sin. The dividing of the booty.

¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

² “First, avenge the sons of Israel from the Midianites, and then you shall be gathered to your people.”

³ And immediately Moses said: “Arm the men among you for a battle, so that they may be able to fulfill the retribution of the Lord on the Midianites.

⁴ Let one thousand men be chosen from each tribe of Israel, who shall be sent to war.”

⁵ And they gave one thousand from each tribe, that is, twelve thousand foot soldiers for battle.

⁶ And Moses sent them with Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest; also, he delivered to him the holy vessels, and the trumpets to sound.

⁷ And when they had fought against the Midianites and had prevailed, they killed all the men.

⁸ And they put to death by the sword their kings: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five leaders of the nation, and also Balaam the son of Beor.

⁹ And they seized their women and little ones, and all their cattle, and all their goods; whatever they were able to have, they despoiled.

¹⁰ Both their cities and their villages, as well as their fortresses, they burned.

¹¹ And they carried away prey from everything that they had seized, both of men and of beasts.

¹² And they led these to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to all the multitude of the sons of Israel. But the remainder of the articles they carried to the camp on the plains of Moab, next to the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

¹³ Then Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them beyond the camp.

¹⁴ And Moses, being angry with the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions, who had arrived from the battle,

¹⁵ said: “Why have you spared the females?

¹⁶ Are not these the ones who deceived the sons of Israel at the suggestion of Balaam, and who caused you betray the Lord by the sin of Peor, because of which the people also were struck down?¹

1. 31:16The sin of Phogor: The sin committed in the worship of Beelphegor.(Challoner)

¹⁷ Therefore, put to death all of them: whatever is of the male sex, even among the little ones, and cut the throats of those women who have known men by sexual relations.¹

1. 31:17Of children: Women and children, ordinarily speaking, were not to be killed in war, Deut. 20.14. But the great Lord of life and death was pleased to order it otherwise in the present case, in detestation of the wickedness of this people, who by the counsel of Balaam, had sent their women among the Israelites on purpose to draw them from God.(Challoner)

¹⁸ But the young girls, and all female virgins, reserve for yourselves.

¹⁹ And remain beyond the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a man, or who has touched one that was killed, shall be purified on the third day and on the seventh day.

²⁰ And all of the spoils, whether it is a garment, or a vessel, or another useful thing, made from the pelts or hair of goats, or from wood, shall be expiated.”

²¹ Likewise, Eleazar the priest spoke in this manner to the men of the army who had fought: “This is the precept of the law, which the Lord has commanded Moses:

²² Gold, and silver, and brass, and iron, and lead, and tin,

²³ and all that may be able to pass through fire, shall be purified by fire. But whatever is not able to sustain fire shall be sanctified with the waters of expiation.

²⁴ And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and, after having been purified, you shall enter the camp.”

²⁵ And the Lord also said to Moses:

²⁶ “Take the sum of those things which were captured, from man even to beast, you and Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the common people.

²⁷ And you shall divide the prey equally, among those who went out to war and fought, and among the remainder of the multitude.

²⁸ And you shall separate a portion for the Lord from the portion of those who fought and were in the battle: one soul out of five hundred, as much from humans, as from oxen and donkeys and sheep.¹

1. 31:28The word ‘hominibus’ is used to refer to men in the general sense of human persons, in this case only females.(Conte)

²⁹ And you shall give it to Eleazar the priest, because these are the first-fruits of the Lord.

³⁰ Likewise, from the half of the portion belonging to the sons of Israel, you shall receive the fiftieth head of humans, and of oxen, and donkeys, and sheep, and of all living things, and you shall give these to the Levites who stand watch over the care of the tabernacle of the Lord.”

³¹ And Moses and Eleazar did just as the Lord had instructed.

³² Now the prey which the army had seized was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

³³ seventy-two thousand oxen,

³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys,

³⁵ and thirty-two thousand human lives, of the female sex, who had not known men.

³⁶ And one half of the portion was given to those who had been in the battle: three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.

³⁷ From these, for the portion of the Lord, there were accounted: six hundred seventy-five sheep;

³⁸ and from the thirty-six thousand oxen, seventy-two oxen;

³⁹ from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, sixty-one donkeys.

⁴⁰ From the sixteen thousand human souls, there fell to the portion of the Lord thirty-two souls.

⁴¹ And Moses delivered the number of the first-fruits of the Lord to Eleazar the priest, just as had been commanded of him,

⁴² from the one half portion belonging to the sons of Israel, which he had separated from the portion of those who had been in the battle.

⁴³ Yet truly, from the one half portion which fell to the remainder of the multitude, that is, from the three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴ and from the thirty-six thousand oxen,

⁴⁵ and from the thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

⁴⁶ and from the sixteen thousand persons,

⁴⁷ Moses took the fiftieth head, and gave it to the Levites who stand watch at the tabernacle of the Lord, just as the Lord had instructed.

⁴⁸ And when the leaders of the army, and the tribunes, and the centurions had approached Moses, they said:

⁴⁹ “We, your servants, have taken a census of the number of the fighting men, whom we had under our hand, and indeed not one was lacking.