Numbers · 54 verses
Numbers 31
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
The whole army comes home from Midian without losing a single man, and the commanders bring their bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces as an offering for atonement.
The war and the homecomingvv. 1–12
The LORD sends Moses against Midian, with a thousand men from each tribe. Twelve thousand go, and Phinehas son of Eleazar carries the sanctuary vessels and the signaling trumpets—an unusually well-equipped expedition. The army kills every male, including the five kings Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, and Balaam son of Beor. The women and children are captured, the cities and encampments are burned, and the spoil is brought to Moses, Eleazar, and Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan across from Jericho.
The rebuke outside the campvv. 13–24
Moses, Eleazar, and the leaders meet the returning soldiers outside the camp. Moses is angry—not because the army has killed, but because it has spared the women. He orders the killing of the boys and of every woman who has had relations with a man, while the untouched girls are to be spared. Then the chapter turns from battle to an elaborate business of purification: soldiers, captives, clothing, leather, goat’s hair, wood, metal, and water all receive their appointed treatment before anyone enters the camp.
The arithmetic of the spoilvv. 25–54
The LORD then orders a census of the captured people and animals, followed by a division between the soldiers and the congregation. The figures arrive in grand procession: 675,000 sheep, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 women who had not slept with a man. One part in five hundred is taken from the soldiers for Eleazar, and one part in fifty from the congregation for the Levites. At the end, the commanders announce that not one soldier is missing and offer the gold jewellery each man acquired. The chapter does not explain how the jewellery makes atonement; it simply ends with the gold brought into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Num 31:2“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the Israelites. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”
Num 31:3So Moses told the people, “Arm some of your men for war, that they may go against the Midianites and execute the LORD’s vengeance on them.
Num 31:4Send into battle a thousand men from each tribe of Israel.”
Num 31:5So a thousand men were recruited from each tribe of Israel—twelve thousand armed for war.
Num 31:6And Moses sent the thousand from each tribe into battle, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who took with him the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for signaling.
Num 31:7Then they waged war against Midian, as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
Num 31:8Among the slain were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
Num 31:9The Israelites captured the Midianite women and their children, and they plundered all their herds, flocks, and goods.
Num 31:10Then they burned all the cities where the Midianites had lived, as well as all their encampments,
Num 31:11and carried away all the plunder and spoils, both people and animals.
Num 31:12They 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.
Num 31:13And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp.
Num 31:14But Moses was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who were returning from the battle.
Num 31:15“Have you spared all the women?” he asked them.
Num 31:16“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.
Num 31:17So now, kill all the boys, as well as every woman who has had relations with a man,
Num 31:18but spare for yourselves every girl who has never had relations with a man.
Num 31:19All of you who have killed a person or touched the dead are to remain outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you are to purify both yourselves and your captives.
Num 31:20And purify every garment and leather good, everything made of goat’s hair, and every article of wood.”
Num 31:21Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is the statute of the law which the LORD has commanded Moses:
Num 31:22Only the gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—
Num 31:23everything 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.
Num 31:24On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may enter the camp.”
Num 31:26“You and Eleazar the priest and the family heads of the congregation are to take a count of what was captured, both of man and beast.
Num 31:27Then divide the captives between the troops who went out to battle and the rest of the congregation.
Num 31:28Set aside a tribute for the LORD from what belongs to the soldiers who went into battle: one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, or sheep.
Num 31:29Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the LORD.
Num 31:30From 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.”
Num 31:31So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses,
Num 31:32and this plunder remained from the spoils the soldiers had taken: 675,000 sheep,
Num 31:3372,000 cattle,
Num 31:3461,000 donkeys,
Num 31:35and 32,000 women who had not slept with a man.
Num 31:36This was the half portion for those who had gone to war: 337,500 sheep,
Num 31:37including a tribute to the LORD of 675,
Num 31:3836,000 cattle, including a tribute to the LORD of 72,
Num 31:3930,500 donkeys, including a tribute to the LORD of 61,
Num 31:40and 16,000 people, including a tribute to the LORD of 32.
Num 31:41Moses gave the tribute to Eleazar the priest as an offering for the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Num 31:42From the Israelites’ half, which Moses had set apart from the men who had gone to war,
Num 31:43this half belonged to the congregation: 337,500 sheep,
Num 31:4436,000 cattle,
Num 31:4530,500 donkeys,
Num 31:46and 16,000 people.
Num 31:47From 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.
Num 31:48Then the officers who were over the units of the army—the commanders of thousands and of hundreds—approached Moses
Num 31:49and said, “Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.
Num 31:50So we have brought to the LORD an offering of the gold articles each man acquired—armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD.”
Num 31:51So Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them all the articles made out of gold.
Num 31:52All the gold that the commanders of thousands and of hundreds presented as an offering to the LORD weighed 16,750 shekels.
Num 31:53Each of the soldiers had taken plunder for himself.
Num 31:54And Moses and Eleazar 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 Israelites before the LORD.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 236 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 491 Samuel 30:18–19So David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives.
- 49John 18:9This was to fulfill the word He had spoken: “I have not lost one of those You have given Me.”
- 16Numbers 25:1–9While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab,
- 49Psalms 72:14He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.
- 162 Peter 2:15They have left the straight way and wandered off to follow the way of Balaam son of Beor, who loved the wages of wickedness.
- 16Revelation 2:14But 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.
- 8Joshua 13:21–22all 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.
- 16Joshua 22:17Was 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.
- 16Deuteronomy 4:3Your 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.
- 27Joshua 22:8saying, “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.”
- 2Numbers 27:13After you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was;
- 7Judges 21:11This is what you are to do: Devote to destruction every male, as well as every female who has had relations with a man.”
- 71 Kings 11:15–16Earlier, 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.
- 8Numbers 25:15And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
- 11Deuteronomy 20:14But 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.
- 16Numbers 24:14Now 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.”
Onward