And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:

Take retribution for the children of Israel from the Midianites; and afterward thou shalt be gathered to thy people.

And Moses spake with the people, saying: Arm of you men, for the host to make war against Midian, to give the people of the Lord avengement upon Midian;

a thousand of each tribe of all the tribes of Israel send ye to the war.

And of the thousands of Israel fit men were chosen who gave up themselves, a thousand of a tribe, twelve thousand, armed for the war.

And Mosheh sent them, a thousand of each tribe to the war, them and Phinehas bar Elazar the priest unto the war, with the Uraia and Thummaia consecrated to inquire for them, and the Jubilee trumpets in his hand for assembling, encamping, and ordering forward the host of Israel.

And they warred against Midian, circumventing them from three corners, as the Lord had instructed Mosheh, and they killed every male;

and they slew the kings of the Midianites with the slain of their armies, Evi, Rekem, Zur, who is Balak, and Hur and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Bileam bar Beor they killed with the sword. And it was when Bileam the guilty saw Phinehas the priest pursuing him, he made use of his magical arts, (lit., made words of enchantment,) and flew in the air of the heavens; but Phinehas forthwith pronounced the Great and Holy Name, and flew after him, and seized him by his head, and bringing him down drew the sword, and sought to kill him; but he opened his mouth with words of deprecation, and said to Phinehas: If thou wilt spare my life, I swear to thee that all the days I live I will not curse thy people. He answered him, and said: Art thou not Laban the Amarite who didst seek to destroy Jakob our father, who wentest down into Mizraim, to destroy his children, and, after they had come out of Mizraim, didst send the wicked Amalek against them; and hast thou not now been sent to curse them? But after thou hadst seen that thy works did not prosper, and that the Word of the Lord would not hear thee, thou didst give the evil counsel to Balak to set his daughters in the way to make them go wrong, when there fell of them twentyfour thousand. Therefore, it cannot be that thy life may be spared; and at once he drew the sword and slew him.

And the sons of Israel led captive the wives of the Midianites, their children, their cattle, and all their flocks, and destroyed all their goods;

and all their towns, the houses, of their rulers, and the high places of their houses of worship, they burned with fire;

but they took all the spoil and the prey both of men and beasts,

and brought to Mosheh, Elazar the priest, and all the congregation of Israel, the captives, the prey, and the spoils, at the camp in the fields of Moab, by the Jordan, near Jericho.

And Mosheh and Elazar the priest, with all the heads of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.

But Mosheh was angry with the leaders appointed over the host, the chiefs of thousands and of hundreds who came from the war with the host;

and Mosheh said to them, Why have you spared all the women?

These are they who caused the offence of the sons of Israel, by the counsel of Bileam, to do wrongly before the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that pestilence came upon the congregation of the Lord.

Now, therefore, slay every male among the children, and every woman who hath known a man;

but every female child you shall stand before the Crown of Holiness, (the priest's tiara,) and look upon her: she who is not a virgin will be pallid in the face, but she who is a virgin child will blush in the face, like fire; them you shall spare.

But as for you, abide without the camp seven days; whoever hath slain a man, or touched the dead, you shall sprinkle on the third; and on the seventh day both you and your captives,

and every garment, and whatever is made of skin, goats' hair, horn, or bone, and every vessel of wood, you shall sprinkle.

And Elazar the priest said to the men of the host who had returned from the war: This is the manifestation of the decree of the law which the Lord hath commanded to Mosheh.

Nevertheless, these (articles) without their rust, the gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, and lead, their vessels, but not the unformed and simple (metals),

every thing whose nature it is to abide the fire, of the pans, pots, spits, and gridirons, you shall make to pass through fire to purify them, and afterward (sprinkle them) with water such as is used to purify the unclean; but whatever will not abide the fire coverlids, cups flagons, and utensils, you shall make to pass through forty sata of water;

and you shall wash your raiment on the seventh day to be clean, and afterwards come into the camp.

And the Lord spake with Mosheh saying:

Take the sum of the prey of the captives, both of man and beast, and take their amount, thou and Elazar the priest, and the chiefs of the fathers of the congregation;

and divide the spoil between the men of war who took the spoil in the conflict of battle, having gone forth with the host, and between all the congregation;

and separate that which is to be given up to the Name of the Lord by the men of war who went forth with the host: one woman out of five hundred; so, likewise, of oxen, asses, and sheep.

From their half, the portion of the men of war, shalt thou take them, and give to Elazar the priest, as a separation unto the Name of the Lord;

but of the half (falling to) the children of Israel thou shalt take one out of fifty of the women, and of the oxen, the asses, and of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the Lord's tabernacle;

and Mosheh and Elazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

And the amount of the prey, the rest of the spoil which had been taken by the people who went forth in the host,-the number of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five thousand;

oxen, seventy-two thousand;

asses, sixty-one thousand; persons,

the women who had not known man, all the persons thirty-two thousand.

And the half of the portion for the men who had gone to the war, the number of the sheep was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred;

and the amount of that brought up for the Name of the Lord was of sheep six hundred and seventy-five;

oxen thirty-six thousand, those for the Name of the Lord seventy-two;

asses thirty thousand five hundred, for the Name of the Lord sixty-one; persons sixteen thousand, for the Name of the Lord _

_ thirty-two.

And Mosheh gave the number separated to the Name of the Lord unto Elazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

And the half part for the children of Israel which Mosheh divided from the men's who went forth to the war,

the amount was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

thirty-six thousand oxen,

thirty thousand five hundred asses,

and sixteen thousand women.

And Mosheh took from the half part for the children of Israel of that which had been captured, one out of fifty, whether of man or beast, and gave it to the Levites who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Mosheh.

And the officers who had been appointed over the thousands of the host, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, drew near to Mosheh,

and they said to Mosheh, Thy servants have taken the account of the men of war who have been with us, and not any of them are wanting.

And we have brought a gift unto the Name of the Lord, forasmuch as the Lord hath delivered the Midianites into our hands, and we have been able to subdue their land and their cities. And we entered into their chambers, and there saw their daughters, fair, tender, and delicate; and every man who found on them jewels of gold, loosened the coronets from their heads, the earrings from their ears, the necklaces from their necks, the bracelets from their arms, the rings from their fingers, and the brooches from their bosoms;-but in all this we abstained from lifting our eyes upon themselves, or gazing on one of them, lest we should sin with any one of them, and die the death which the wicked die in the world to come. And may this be had in memorial for us in the day of the great judgment, to make propitiation for our souls before the Lord.

And Mosheh and Elazar the priest took the gold from them, every article fabricated;

and the sum of all the gold of the separation which they had separated unto the Name of the Lord was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the captains of thousands and of hundreds.

For the men of the host had taken spoil, every man for himself.

And Mosheh and Elazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of ordinance, a good memorial of the sons of Israel before the Lord.