1 Então o Senhor falou assim a Moisés:
2 Castiga os midianitas por terem levado à idolatria o povo de Israel. Depois disso terás de morrer - serás recolhido para junto dos teus.
3 Moisés disse ao povo: Armem-se alguns de vocês e preparem-se para travar uma guerra de Jeová contra os midianitas para os castigar. Mobilizem mil homens de cada tribo. E assim foi feito. Foram alistadas doze mil soldados de Israel, os quais Moisés mandou para a batalha. Finéias, filho de Eleazar o sacerdote, foi quem conduziu esse exército; e os objectos sagrados acompanharam-nos, ao mesmo tempo que iam tocando as trombetas.
7 E o resultado foi que todos os homens midianitas foram mortos nesse combate. Entre eles estavam os cinco reis midianitas: Evi, Requem, Zur, Hur e Reba. Também Balaão, filho de Beor, foi morto.
9 Israel trouxe como cativos as mulheres e as crianças, e apoderou-se do gado e dos rebanhos deles, assim como de muita coisa variada que saquearam. Todas as povoações, cidades e aldeias foram incendiadas. Os cativos e a presa tomada foram trazidos a Moisés e a Eleazar, sacerdote, à vista de todo o povo de Israel, que estava acampado nas margens do Jordão nas planícies de Moabe, em frente a Jericó. Moisés e o sacerdote Eleazar, acompanhados de todos os chefes do povo, vieram fora do arraial ao encontro daquela tropa vitoriosa; mas aconteceu que Moisés ficou muito irado contra os oficiais do exército e os comandantes dos batalhões.
15 Porque é que deixaram vivas as mulheres?, perguntou. Estas são precisamente as que, seguindo as indicações de Balaão, fizeram com que o povo de Israel adorasse os ídolos, no monte Peor, e provocaram assim aquela praga que nos destruíu! Então, matem agora todos os rapazes, e também todas as mulheres que já alguma vez se tenham deitado com um homem; as restantes deixem-nas em vida e podem levá-las convosco. Todos os que mataram alguém ou que tenham tocado num corpo morto deverão ficar fora do acampamento durante sete dias, purificando-se a si e às cativas no terceiro e no sétimo dia. Lembrem-se também de purificar as vossas roupas e tudo o que seja feito de pele de animal ou de pêlo de cabra, assim como os recipientes de madeira.
21 Eleazar, sacerdote, disse para os homens que tinham combatido: Este é o regulamento que Jeová deu a Moisés: tudo o que possa suportar o fogo, tal como ouro, prata, bronze, estanho ou chumbo, deverá ser passado pelo lume, a fim de ficar ritualmente puro; além disso deve ser purificado pela água de purificação. No entanto aquilo que não suportar o calor passará apenas pela água.
24 No sétimo dia lavarão os seus fatos e purificar-se-ão; só depois poderão regressar ao acampamento.
25 O Senhor disse a Moisés:
26 Tu e o sacerdote Eleazar, mais os líderes das tribos, deverão fazer uma lista de tudo o que foi saqueado, incluindo gente e animais; depois repartam em duas partes. Metade ficará para os homens que combateram e a outra metade será dada ao povo de Israel.
28 Da metade que pertence aos homens que combateram terão de dar um tributo ao Senhor; consistirá de um em cada quinhentos, tanto dos cativos, como dos bois, dos burros e dos rebanhos capturados pelo exército. Dêem este tributo a Eleazar, o sacerdote, para que apresente ao Senhor com um gesto próprio de oferta em frente do altar. Levantem igualmente um tributo, da metade que pertence ao povo, de um em cada cinquenta também dos prisioneiros, dos rebanhos e do resto do gado, que for dado ao povo de Israel, e apresentem-no aos levitas, que têm o cargo do tabernáculo. Será a parte que lhes pertence.
31 Moisés e Eleazar fizeram conforme o Senhor lhes mandou.
32 O total da presa tomada aos midianitas - além da parte dada aos que combateram - foi de 675.000 ovelhas, 72.000 bois, 61.000 burros; as raparigas cativas foram 32.000.
41 Tudo o que era para o Senhor foi dado a Eleazar o sacerdote, tal como Jeová mandara.
47 De acordo com a vontade do Senhor, Moisés entregou um por cada cinquenta destes aos levitas.
48 Os oficiais e o comandantes de batalhão vieram até Moisés e disseram-lhe: Fizemos a chamada de todos os que tinham partido a combater e verificámos que não se perdeu um só deles! Por isso trouxemos aqui uma oferta especial de gratidão ao Senhor, tomada do que recebemos - ouro, jóias, pulseiras, colares, anéis, brincos, arrecadas. Isto é para fazer expiação pelas nossas almas perante o Senhor.
51 Moisés e Eleazar o sacerdote receberam esta oferta especial, da parte dos oficiais e comandantes, tendo estimado o valor total de tudo aquilo em 190 quilos de ouro. Os soldados tinham ficado também com parte do saque para eles. A oferta foi levada para o tabernáculo e conservada perante o Senhor como memorial para o povo de Israel.
1 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:
2 Exact thou the avenging of the sons of Israel, from the Midianites,and, afterwards, shalt thou be withdrawn unto thy kinsfolk.
3 So Moses spake unto the people saying, Arm ye from among you men, for the war, and let them go against Midian, to render the avenging of Yahweh upon Midian.
4 A thousand from each tribe,of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send forth unto the war.
5 And there volunteered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of each tribe,twelve thousand, armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them a thousand of each tribe to the war,them, and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary, and the alarm trumpets, in his hand.
7 So they made war upon Midian, as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and slew every male:
8 and the kings of Midian, slew they besides their other slain namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian,Balaam also, son of Beor, slew they with the sword.
9 And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones,all their cattle also and all their flocks and all their substance, carried they off as a prey;
10 all their cities also in their sites, and all their encampments, burned they up with fire.
11 Then took they all the spoil, and all the booty,both of man and beast;
12 and brought in unto Moses and unto Eleazar the priest and unto the assembly of the sons of Israelthe captives and the booty, and the spoil unto the camp,unto the waste plains of Moab, which are by Jordan, near Jericho.
13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly, went forth to meet them,unto the outside of the camp.
14 Then was Moses sore displeased with the officers of the force,the princes of thousands, and the princes of hundreds who were coming in from the warring host.
15 And Moses said unto them,Have ye saved alive every female?
16 Lo! they, became unto the sons of Israel, by the advice of Balaam, the cause of daring acts of treachery against Yahweh, over the affair of Peor,and then came the plague against the assembly of Yahweh!
17 Now, therefore, slay ye every male among the young,every woman also that hath cohabited with man, slay ye.
18 But all the young of womankind that hay, not cohabited with man, preserve alive for yourselves.
19 Ye, then, pitch outside the camp, for seven days,whosoever hath killed a person and whoever hath touched the slain, cleanse yourselves (from sin) on the third day and on the seventh day ye and your captives,.
20 Every garment also, and every article of skin and every thing made of goats-hair, and every article of wood, shall ye cleanse (from sin).
21 Then said Eleazar the priest unto the men of the host, who had been to the war: This, is the statute of the law, which Yahweh hath commanded Moses:
22 Surely the gold and the silver,the bronze the iron, the tin and the lead,
23 whatsoever thing can go into fire, ye shall pass through fire and it shall be clean, only with the water of separation, shall ye cleanse it (from sin). But whatsoever cannot go into fire, ye shall pass through water.
24 And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and be clean,and after-wards, shall ye come into the camp.
25 Then spake Yahweh unto Moses, saying:
26 Reckon thou up the sum of the booty that was captured, both of man and of beat,thou and Eleazar the priest, and the ancestral heads of the assembly;
27 and divide the booty into two parts, between them who took upon them the war, who went out in the host,and all the assembly.
28 Then shalt thou levy a tribute unto Yahwehfrom the men of war, who went forth in the host, one living thing, out of five hundred,of the human beings, and of the herd, and of the asses and of the flock:
29 out of their half, shall ye take unto Eleazar the priest as a heave-offering unto Yahweh.
30 And out of the half allotted to the sons of Israel, shalt thou take one allotted portion out of fifty of the human beings, of the herd, of the asses and of the flock of all b the cattle,and shalt give them unto the Levites, who keep the charge of the habitation of Yahweh.
31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did,As Yahweh commanded Moses.
32 And it came to pass that the booty, over and above the prey which the people of the host had seized, was,of the flock, six hundred and seventy-five thousand;
33 and, of the herd, seventy-two thousand;
34 and, of the asses, sixty-one thousand;
35 and, of the human persons, even of the woman-kind who had not cohabited with man,all the per-sons, thirty-two thousand.
36 And the half, the share of them who had gone forth in the host, was,the number of the flockthree hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred;
37 and so, the tribute unto Yahweh, out of the flock, wassix hundred and seventy-five;
38 and the herd, thirty-six thousand,and the tribute of them unto Yahwehseventy-two;
39 and the asses, thirty thousand and five hundred,and the tribute of them unto Yahweh, sixty-one;
40 and the human persons, sixteen thousand,and the tribute of them unto Yahweh, thirty-two persons.
41 And Moses gave the tributethe heave-offering of Yahweh, unto Eleazar the priest,As Yahweh commanded Moses.
42 And, of the half, allotted unto the sons of Israel,which Moses halved away from the men who had gone out in the host,
43 the half allotted unto the assembly, wasof the flock, three hundred and thirty-seven thousand, and five hundred;
44 and, of the herd, six and thirty thousand;
45 and, of asses, thirty thousand and five hundred;
46 and, human persons, sixteen thousand.
47 So then Moses tookout of the half belonging to the sons of Israel the allotted portion one out of fifty, of the human beings and of the beasts,and gave them unto the Levites, the keepers of the charge of the habitation of Yahweh, As Yahweh commanded Moses.
48 Then came near unto Moses the officers who belonged unto the thousands of the host,the princes of thousands and the princes of hundreds;
49 and said unto Moses, Thy servants have reckoned up the sum of the men of war who are in our hand,and there is not missed from among us, a man!
50 Therefore have we brought near an offering unto Yahweh, what, each man, hath foundarticles of gold, ankle chains and bracelets, rings earrings and buckles,to put a propitiatory-covering over our souls before Yahweh.
51 So Moses, and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them,all the wrought articles.
52 And all the gold of the heave-offering which they offered up unto Yahweh, wassixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels,of the princes of thousands, and of the princes of hundreds.
53 The men of the host, had taken prey, each man for himself.
54 So then Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the princes of thousands, and hundreds,and brought it into the tent of meeting, as a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.