31 (LY: ii) Adonai said to Moshe, ² “On behalf of the people of Isra’el, take vengeance on the Midyanim. After that, you will be gathered to your people.”

³ Moshe said to the people, “Equip men from among yourselves for war. They are to go and fight Midyan, in order to carry out Adonai’s vengeance on Midyan. ⁴ You are to send to the war a thousand men from every one of Isra’el’s tribes.” ⁵ So out of the thousands of people in Isra’el, a thousand armed men from each tribe, 12,000 altogether, were mustered for war. ⁶ Moshe sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war; he sent them and Pinchas the son of El‘azar the cohen to the war, with the holy utensils and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his care.

⁷ They fought against Midyan, as Adonai had ordered Moshe, and killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midyan along with the others who were slain — Evi, Rekem, Tzur, Hur and Reva, the five kings of Midyan. They also killed Bil‘am the son of B‘or with the sword. ⁹ The people of Isra’el took captive the women of Midyan and their little ones, and they took as booty all their cattle, flocks and other goods. ¹⁰ They set fire to all their cities in the areas where they lived and all their camps. ¹¹ They took all the booty, all the people and animals they had captured, ¹² and brought the captives, booty and spoil to Moshe, El‘azar the cohen and the community of Isra’el in the camp on the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden across from Yericho.

(RY: ii, LY: iii) ¹³ Moshe, El‘azar the cohen and all the community leaders went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moshe was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds coming in from the battlefield. ¹⁵ Moshe asked them, “You let the women live? ¹⁶ 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! ¹⁷ Now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has ever slept with a man. ¹⁸ But the young girls who have never slept with a man, keep alive for yourselves. ¹⁹ 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. ²⁰ Also purify every garment, whether of skin or goat’s hair, and everything made of wood.”

²¹ 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. ²² Even though gold, silver, brass, iron, tin and lead ²³ 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. ²⁴ On the seventh day you are to wash your clothes, and you will be clean; after that you may enter the camp.”

(LY: iv) ²⁵ Adonai said to Moshe, ²⁶ “Take all the booty, both people and animals, you, El‘azar the cohen and the leaders of clans in the community; ²⁷ 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. ²⁸ 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; ²⁹ take it from their half and give it to El‘azar the cohen as a portion set apart for Adonai. ³⁰ 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.” ³¹ Moshe and El‘azar the cohen did as Adonai had ordered Moshe.

³² The booty, over and above the portion which the soldiers took, came to 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all, consisting of the women who had never slept with a man.

³⁶ The half which was the portion of the soldiers who went out to fight, numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ of which Adonai’s tribute was 675; ³⁸ 36,000 cattle, of which Adonai’s tribute was seventy-two; ³⁹ 30,500 donkeys, of which Adonai’s tribute was sixty-one; ⁴⁰ and 16,000 persons, of whom Adonai’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹ Moshe gave the tribute set apart for Adonai to El‘azar the cohen, as Adonai had ordered Moshe.

(LY: v) ⁴² From the half that went to people of Isra’el, which Moshe separated from that of the men who had gone to fight — ⁴³ now the community’s half consisted of 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ 30,500 donkeys ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons — ⁴⁷ from the people of Isra’el’s half, Moshe took one-fiftieth of the persons and animals and gave them to the L’vi’im taking care of the tabernacle of Adonai, as Adonai had ordered Moshe.

⁴⁸ The officers in charge of the thousands who fought, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, approached Moshe ⁴⁹ and said to him, “Your servants have counted all the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing. ⁵⁰ We have brought an offering for Adonai, what every man has obtained in the way of gold jewelry — armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings and belts — to make atonement for ourselves before Adonai.”

⁵¹ Moshe and El‘azar the cohen accepted their gold, all the jewelry. ⁵² All the gold in this gift which the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds set apart for Adonai weighed 420 pounds. ⁵³ For the soldiers had taken booty, every man for himself. ⁵⁴ Moshe and El‘azar the cohen took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it into the tent of meeting as a reminder for the people of Isra’el before Adonai.

32 (RY: iii; LY: vi) The descendants of Re’uven and the descendants of Gad had vast quantities of livestock. When they saw that the land of Ya‘zer and the land of Gil‘ad were good for livestock, ² the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven came and spoke to Moshe, El‘azar the cohen and the community leaders. They said, ³ “‘Atarot, Divon, Ya‘zer, Nimrah, Heshbon, El‘aleh, S’vam, N’vo and Be‘on, ⁴ the country that Adonai conquered before the community of Isra’el, is livestock country; and your servants have livestock. ⁵ If you regard us favorably,” they went on, “let this land be given to your servants as their possession; and don’t have us cross the Yarden.”

⁶ Moshe answered the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven: “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here? ⁷ Besides, why are you trying to discourage the people of Isra’el from crossing into the land Adonai gave them? ⁸ This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-Barnea to see the land. ⁹ For when they went up to the Eshkol Valley and saw the land, they disheartened the people of Isra’el, so that they wouldn’t enter the land Adonai had given them. ¹⁰ Adonai’s anger blazed up on that day; and he swore, ¹¹ ‘None of the people aged twenty or more who came out of Egypt will see the land I swore to Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov; because they haven’t followed me unreservedly — ¹² except Kalev the son of Y’funeh the K’nizi and Y’hoshua the son of Nun, because they have followed Adonai unreservedly.’ ¹³ Thus Adonai’s anger blazed against Isra’el, so that he made them wander here and there in the desert forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of Adonai had died out. ¹⁴ Now you, another brood of sinners, have arisen in your fathers’ place to increase still more the fierce anger of Adonai toward Isra’el! ¹⁵ For if you turn away from him, he will leave them in the desert again, and thus you will cause the destruction of all these people!”

¹⁶ But they came up to him and said, “Here we will build enclosures for our livestock and cities for our little ones, ¹⁷ but we ourselves will be armed and ready for action to march at the head of the people of Isra’el, until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will stay in the fortified cities here because of the people now living in the land. ¹⁸ However, we will not return to our own homes until every man in Isra’el has taken possession of his land for inheritance. ¹⁹ We will not have an inheritance with them on the other side of the Yarden, westward; because our inheritance has fallen to us on this side of the Yarden, eastward.”

(RY: iv, LY: vii) ²⁰ Moshe said to them, “If you will do this — if you will arm yourselves to go before Adonai to the war, ²¹ and if every one of your soldiers will cross the Yarden before Adonai, until he has driven out his enemies ahead of him, ²² and if the land has been conquered before Adonai, and only after that do you return — then you will be clear before Adonai and before Isra’el, and this land here will be yours to possess before Adonai. ²³ But if you will not do this, then you have sinned against Adonai, and you must understand that your sin will find you out. ²⁴ Build cities for your little ones and enclosures for your sheep; then do what you said you would do.”

²⁵ The descendants of Gad and the descendants of Re’uven said to Moshe, “Your servants will do as my lord orders. ²⁶ Our little ones, wives, flocks and all our livestock will be there in the cities of Gil‘ad; ²⁷ but your servants will cross over, every man armed for war, before Adonai to do battle, as my lord says.”

²⁸ So Moshe gave orders concerning them to El‘azar the cohen, Y’hoshua the son of Nun and the clan leaders of the tribes of the people of Isra’el. ²⁹ Moshe said to them, “If the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven cross over the Yarden with you, every man armed for battle, before Adonai; and if the land is conquered before you, then you are to give them the land of Gil‘ad as theirs to possess. ³⁰ But if they do not cross with you armed, they are to possess land along with you in Kena‘an.”

³¹ The descendants of Gad and of Re’uven answered, “We will do as Adonai has said to your servants. ³² We will cross over into the land of Kena‘an armed before Adonai, and the land we will possess for inheritance will be on this side of the Yarden.”

³³ So Moshe gave the descendants of Gad and of Re’uven, and also to the half-tribe of M’nasheh the son of Yosef, the kingdom of Sichon king of the Emori and the kingdom of ‘Og king of Bashan — the country and its cities within its borders, along with their surrounding towns.

³⁴ The descendants of Gad built Divon, ‘Atarot, ‘Aro‘er, ³⁵ ‘Atrot-Shofan, Ya‘zer, Yogbehah, ³⁶ Beit-Nimrah and Beit-Haran — fortified cities; and also enclosures for sheep.

³⁷ The descendants of Re’uven built Heshbon, El‘aleh, Kiryatayim, ³⁸ N’vo, Ba‘al-M‘on (these names have been changed) and Sivmah; they renamed the cities they built.

(LY: Maftir) ³⁹ The descendants of Machir the son of M’nasheh went to Gil‘ad and conquered it, dispossessing the Emori who were there. ⁴⁰ Moshe gave Gil‘ad to Machir the son of M’nasheh, and he lived in it. ⁴¹ Ya’ir the son of M’nasheh went and captured its villages and called them Havot-Ya’ir [villages of Ya’ir]. ⁴² Novach went and captured K’nat with its villages and named it Novach after himself.

Haftarah Mattot: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 1:1–2:3

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Mattot: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:33–37