Through the Bible – Day 56

₁The LORD said to Moses, ₂“Before you die, make sure that the Midianites are punished for what they did to Israel.”

₃Then Moses told the people, “The LORD wants to punish the Midianites. So tell our men to prepare for battle. ₄Each tribe will send a thousand men to fight.”

₅Twelve thousand men were picked from the tribes of Israel, and after they were prepared for battle, ₆Moses 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.

₇The Israelites fought against the Midianites, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. They killed all the men, ₈including Balaam son of Beor and the five Midianite kings, Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. ₉The Israelites captured every woman and child, then led away the Midianites' cattle and sheep, and took everything else that belonged to them. ₁₀They also burnt down the Midianite towns and villages.

₁₁Israel's soldiers gathered together everything they had taken from the Midianites, including the captives and the animals. _12-13Then they returned to their own camp in the hills of Moab across the River Jordan from Jericho, where Moses, Eleazar, and the other Israelite leaders met the troops outside camp.

₁₄Moses became angry with the army commanders ₁₅and said, “I can't believe you let the women live! ₁₆They are the ones who followed Balaam's advice and invited our people to worship the god Baal-Peor. That's why the LORD punished us by killing so many of our people. ₁₇You must put to death every boy and all the women who have ever had sex. ₁₈But do not kill the young women who have never had sex. You may keep them for yourselves.”

₁₉Then 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. ₂₀Then wash your clothes and anything made from animal skin, goat's hair, or wood.”

_21-23Eleazar then explained, “If you need to purify something that won't burn, such as gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead, you must first place it in a hot fire. After you take it out, sprinkle it with the water that purifies. Everything else should only be sprinkled with the water. Do all of this, just as the LORD commanded Moses. ₂₄Wash your clothes on the seventh day, and after that, you will be clean and may return to the camp.”

₂₅The LORD told Moses:

₃₁Moses and Eleazar followed the LORD's instructions _32-35and listed everything that had been taken from the Midianites. The list included 675,000 sheep and goats, 72,000 cattle, 61,000 donkeys, and 32,000 young women who had never had sex.

_36-47Each half included 337,500 sheep and goats, 36,000 cattle, 30,500 donkeys, and 16,000 young women. From the half that belonged to the soldiers, Moses counted out 675 sheep and goats, 72 cattle, 61 donkeys, and 32 women and gave them to Eleazar to be dedicated to the LORD. Then from the half that belonged to the people, Moses set aside one out of every fifty animals and women, as the LORD had said, and gave them to the Levites.

₄₈The army commanders went to Moses ₄₉and said, “Sir, we have counted our troops, and not one soldier is missing. ₅₀So we want to give the LORD all the gold jewellery we took from the Midianites. It's our gift to him for watching over us and our troops.”

₅₁Moses and Eleazar accepted the jewellery from the commanders, ₅₂and its total weight was nearly two hundred kilogrammes. ₅₃This did not include the things that the soldiers had kept for themselves. ₅₄So Moses and Eleazar placed the gold in the LORD's sacred tent to remind Israel of what had happened.

₁The tribes of Reuben and Gad owned a lot of cattle and sheep, and they saw that the regions of Jazer and Gilead had good pasture land. ₂So they went to Moses, Eleazar, and the other leaders of Israel and said, _3-4“The LORD has helped us capture the land around the towns of Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon. That's good pasture land, and since we own cattle and sheep, ₅would you let us stay here east of the River Jordan and have this land as our own?”

₆Moses answered:

₁₆The men from Reuben and Gad replied:

₂₀Moses said:

₂₅The men from Reuben and Gad answered:

₂₈Then Moses said to Eleazar, Joshua, and the family leaders, ₂₉“Make sure that the tribes of Gad and Reuben prepare for battle and cross the River Jordan with you. If they do, then after the land is in your control, give them the region of Gilead as their tribal land. ₃₀But if they break their promise, they will receive land on the other side of the Jordan, like the rest of the tribes.”

₃₁The tribes of Gad and Reuben replied, “We are your servants and will do whatever the LORD has commanded. ₃₂We will cross the River Jordan, 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.”

₃₃So Moses gave the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh the territory and towns that King Sihon the Amorite had ruled, as well as the territory and towns that King Og of Bashan had ruled.

₃₄The tribe of Gad rebuilt the towns of Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer, ₃₅Atroth-Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah, ₃₆Beth-Nimrah, and Beth-Haran. They built walls around them and also built places to keep their sheep and goats.

₃₇The tribe of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim, ₃₈Sibmah, as well as the towns that used to be known as Nebo and Baal-Meon. They renamed all those places.

₃₉The clan of Machir from the tribe of East Manasseh went to the region of Gilead, captured its towns, and forced out the Amorites. ₄₀So Moses gave the Machirites the region of Gilead, and they settled there.

₄₁Jair from the Manasseh tribe captured villages and renamed them “Villages of Jair”.

₄₂Nobah captured the town of Kenath with its villages and renamed it Nobah.

₁As Israel travelled from Egypt under the command of Moses and Aaron, ₂Moses kept a list of the places where they camped, just as the LORD had instructed. Here is the record of their journey:

_3-4Israel left the Egyptian city of Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month. This was the day after the LORD had punished Egypt's gods by killing the firstborn sons in every Egyptian family. So while the Egyptians were burying the bodies, they watched the Israelites proudly leave their country.

₅After the Israelites left Rameses, they camped at Succoth, ₆and from there, they moved their camp to Etham on the edge of the desert. ₇Then they turned back towards Pi-Hahiroth, east of Baal-Zephon, and camped near Migdol. ₈They left Pi-Hahiroth, crossed the Red Sea, then walked three days into the Etham Desert and camped at Marah. ₉Next, they camped at Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. ₁₀They left Elim and camped near the Red Sea, ₁₁then turned east and camped along the western edge of the Sinai Desert. _12-14From there they went to Dophkah, Alush, and Rephidim, where they had no water. ₁₅They left Rephidim and finally reached the Sinai Desert.

_16-36As Israel travelled from the Sinai Desert to Kadesh in the Zin Desert, they camped at Kibroth-Hattaavah, Hazeroth, Rithmah, Rimmon-Perez, Libnah, Rissah, Kehelathah, Mount Shepher, Haradah, Makheloth, Tahath, Terah, Mithkah, Hashmonah, Moseroth, Bene-Jaakan, Hor-Haggidgad, Jotbathah, Abronah, Ezion-Geber, and finally Kadesh. ₃₇When they left Kadesh, they came to Mount Hor, on the border of Edom.

₃₈That's where the LORD commanded Aaron the priest to go to the top of the mountain. Aaron died there on the first day of the fifth month, forty years after the Israelites left Egypt. ₃₉He was one hundred and twenty-three years old at the time.

₄₀It was then that the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Southern Desert of Canaan, heard that Israel was headed that way.

_41-47The Israelites left Mount Hor and headed towards Moab. Along the way, they camped at Zalmonah, Punon, Oboth, Iye-Abarim in the territory of Moab, Dibon-Gad, Almon-Diblathaim, at a place near Mount Nebo in the Abarim Mountains, ₄₈and finally in the lowlands of Moab across the River Jordan from Jericho. ₄₉Their camp stretched from Beth-Jeshimoth to Acacia.

₂₁Jesus also said:

₂₆Again Jesus said:

₃₀Finally, Jesus said:

₃₃Jesus used many other stories when he spoke to the people, and he taught them as much as they could understand. ₃₄He did not tell them anything without using stories. But when he was alone with his disciples, he explained everything to them.

₃₅That evening, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let's cross to the east side.” ₃₆So they left the crowd, and his disciples started across the lake with him in the boat. Some other boats followed along. ₃₇Suddenly a storm struck the lake. Waves started splashing into the boat, and it was about to sink.

₃₈Jesus was in the back of the boat with his head on a pillow, and he was asleep. His disciples woke him and said, “Teacher, don't you care that we're about to drown?”

₃₉Jesus got up and ordered the wind and the waves to be quiet. The wind stopped, and everything was calm.

₄₀Jesus asked his disciples, “Why were you afraid? Don't you have any faith?”

₄₁Now they were more afraid than ever and said to each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”