Study Desk

Moses sent them off to war. Phinehas the son of Eleazar went with them and took along some things from the sacred tent and the trumpets for sounding the battle signal.

But do not kill the young women who have never had sex. You may keep them for yourselves."

Then Moses said to the soldiers, "If you killed anyone or touched a dead body, you are unclean and have to stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third and seventh days, you must go through a ceremony to make yourselves and your captives clean.

From the half that belongs to the soldiers, set aside for the Lord one out of every five hundred people or animals and give these to Eleazar.

So we want to give the Lord all the gold jewelry we took from the Midianites. It's our gift to him for watching over us and our troops."

This did not include the things that the soldiers had kept for themselves.

The men from Reuben and Gad replied: Let us build places to keep our sheep and goats, and towns for our wives and children,

Moses said: You promised that you would be ready to fight for the Lord .

Go ahead and build towns for your wives and children, and places for your sheep and goats. Just be sure to do what you have promised.

But those of us who are prepared for battle will cross the Jordan and fight for the Lord .

"Make sure that the tribes of Gad and Reuben prepare for battle and cross the Jordan River with you. If they do, then after the land is in your control, give them the region of Gilead as their tribal land.

We will cross the Jordan River, ready to fight for the Lord in Canaan. But the land we will inherit as our own will be on this side of the river."

If you don't force out all the people there, they will be like pointed sticks in your eyes and thorns in your back. They will always be trouble for you,

"Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun will divide the land for the Israelites.

These are the men the Lord commanded to help Eleazar and Joshua divide the land for the Israelites.

That way, the Levites will have towns to live in and pastures for their animals.

Six of the towns you give them will be Safe Towns where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection. But you will also give the Levites forty-two other towns,

Since the towns for the Levites must come from Israel's own tribal lands, the larger tribes will give more towns than the smaller ones.

choose Safe Towns, where a person who has accidentally killed someone can run for protection.

If the victim's relatives think it was murder, they might try to take revenge. Anyone accused of murder can run to one of these Safe Towns for protection and not be killed before a trial is held.