The Wilderness Years

Why, these are the ones who - because of Bil'am's advice -caused the people of Isra'el to rebel, breaking faith with ADONAI in the P'or incident, so that the plague broke out among ADONAI's community!

Now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has ever slept with a man.

But the young girls who have never slept with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

Pitch your tents outside the camp for seven days. Whoever has killed a person or touched the corpse of someone slain, purify yourselves on the third and seventh days, you and your captives.

Also purify every garment, whether of skin or goat's hair, and everything made of wood."

El'azar the cohen said to the soldiers who had gone to the front, "This is the regulation from the Torah which ADONAI has ordered Moshe.

Even though gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead

can all withstand fire, so that you are indeed to purify everything made of these materials by having them pass through fire; nevertheless they must also be purified with the water for purification. Everything that can't withstand fire you are to have go through the water.

On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean; after that you may enter the camp."

ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Take all the booty, both people and animals, you, El'azar the cohen and the leaders of clans in the community;

and divide the booty into two parts: half for the experienced soldiers who went out to battle, and half for the rest of the community.

From the portion of the soldiers who went out to battle, levy a tax for ADONAI consisting of one-five-hundredth of the persons, cattle, donkeys and sheep;

take it from their half and give it to El'azar the cohen as a portion set apart for ADONAI.

From the half that goes to the people of Isra'el, you are to take one-fiftieth of the persons, and of the cattle, donkeys and sheep, that is, of all the livestock; and give them to the L'vi'im taking care of the tabernacle of ADONAI."

Moshe and El'azar the cohen did as ADONAI had ordered Moshe.

The booty, over and above the portion which the soldiers took, came to 675,000 sheep,

72,000 cattle,

61,000 donkeys,

and 32,000 persons in all, consisting of the women who had never slept with a man.

The half which was the portion of the soldiers who went out to fight, numbered 337,500 sheep,

of which ADONAI's tribute was 675;

36,000 cattle, of which ADONAI's tribute was seventy-two;

30,500 donkeys, of which ADONAI's tribute was sixty-one;

and 16,000 persons, of whom ADONAI's tribute was thirty-two persons.