Day 74 of 730

¹Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the children of Israel, saying, "This is the thing which the Lord has commanded.

²When a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

³"Also when a woman vows a vow to the Lord, and binds herself by a bond, being in her father's house, in her youth,

⁴and her father hears her vow, and her bond with which she has bound her soul, and her father holds his peace at her; then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

⁵But if her father disallow her in the day that he hears, none of her vows, or of her bonds with which she has bound her soul, shall stand: and the Lord will forgive her, because her father disallowed her.

⁶"If she has a husband, while her vows are on her, or the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul,

⁷and her husband hears it, and holds his peace at her in the day that he hears it; then her vows shall stand, and her bonds with which she has bound her soul shall stand.

⁸But if her husband forbids her in the day that he hears it, then he shall make void her vow which is on her, and the rash utterance of her lips, with which she has bound her soul: and the Lord will forgive her.

⁹"But the vow of a widow, or of her who is divorced, everything with which she has bound her soul, shall stand against her.

¹⁰"If she vowed in her husband's house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath,

¹¹and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and did not disallow her; then all her vows shall stand, and every bond with which she bound her soul shall stand.

¹²But if her husband made them null and void in the day that he heard them, then whatever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand: her husband has made them void; and the Lord will forgive her.

¹³Every vow, and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void.

¹⁴But if her husband altogether holds his peace at her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows, or all her bonds, which are on her: he has established them, because he held his peace at her in the day that he heard them.

¹⁵But if he shall make them null and void after that he has heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity."

¹⁶These are the statutes, which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter, being in her youth, in her father's house.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Avenge the children of Israel for the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people."

³Moses spoke to the people, saying, "Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian, to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian.

⁴Of every tribe one thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the war."

⁵So there were delivered, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

⁶Moses sent them, one thousand of every tribe, to the war, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

⁷They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses; and they killed every male.

⁸They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they killed with the sword.

⁹The children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their goods, they took for a prey.

¹⁰All their cities in the places in which they lived, and all their encampments, they burnt with fire.

¹¹They took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of man and of animal.

¹²They brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them outside of the camp.

¹⁴Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war.

¹⁵Moses said to them, "Have you saved all the women alive?

¹⁶Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so the plague was among the congregation of the Lord.

¹⁷Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.

¹⁸But all the girls, who have not known man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

¹⁹"Encamp outside of the camp seven days: whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.

²⁰As to every garment, and all that is made of skin, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood, you shall purify yourselves."

²¹Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, "This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses:

²²however the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

²³everything that may withstand the fire, you shall make to go through the fire, and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water for impurity: and all that doesn't withstand the fire you shall make to go through the water.

²⁴You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you shall come into the camp."

²⁵The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²⁶"Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of animal, you, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers' households of the congregation;

²⁷and divide the prey into two parts: between the men skilled in war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.

²⁸Levy a tribute to the Lord of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred; of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks.

²⁹Take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for the Lord's wave offering.

³⁰Of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the livestock, and give them to the Levites, who perform the duty of the tabernacle of the Lord."

³¹Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³²Now the prey, over and above the booty which the men of war took, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

³³and seventy-two thousand head of cattle,

³⁴and sixty-one thousand donkeys,

³⁵and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of the women who had not known man by lying with him.

³⁶The half, which was the portion of those who went out to war, was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep:

³⁷and the Lord's tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand; of which the Lord's tribute was seventy-two.

³⁹The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred; of which the Lord's tribute was sixty-one.

⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand; of whom the Lord's tribute was thirty-two persons.

⁴¹Moses gave the tribute, which was the Lord's wave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴²Of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided off from the men who warred

⁴³(now the congregation's half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

⁴⁴and thirty-six thousand head of cattle,

⁴⁵and thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

⁴⁶and sixteen thousand persons),

⁴⁷even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animal, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duty of the tabernacle of the Lord; as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸The officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands, and the captains of hundreds, came near to Moses;

⁴⁹and they said to Moses, "Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our command, and there lacks not one man of us.

⁵⁰We have brought the Lord's offering, what every man has gotten, of jewels of gold, armlets, and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the Lord."

⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest took their gold, even all worked jewels.

⁵²All the gold of the wave offering that they offered up to the Lord, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.

⁵³(The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself.)

⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.

¹God, why have you rejected us forever? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?

²Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance; Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

³Lift up your feet to the perpetual ruins, all the evil that the enemy has done in the sanctuary.

⁴Your adversaries have roared in the midst of your assembly. They have set up their standards as signs.

⁵They behaved like men wielding axes, cutting through a thicket of trees.

⁶Now they break all its carved work down with hatchet and hammers.

⁷They have burned your sanctuary to the ground. They have profaned the dwelling place of your Name.

⁸They said in their heart, "We will crush them completely." They have burned up all the places in the land where God was worshiped.

⁹We see no miraculous signs. There is no longer any prophet, neither is there among us anyone who knows how long.

¹⁰How long, God, shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme your name forever?

¹¹Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? Take it out of your pocket and consume them!

¹²Yet God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.

¹³You divided the sea by your strength. You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.

¹⁴You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces. You gave him as food to people and desert creatures.

¹⁵You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.

¹⁶The day is yours, the night is also yours. You have prepared the light and the sun.

¹⁷You have set all the boundaries of the earth. You have made summer and winter.

¹⁸Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Lord. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.

¹⁹Do not deliver the soul of your dove to wild beasts. Do not forget the life of your poor forever.

²⁰Honor your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the earth.

²¹Do not let the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise your name.

²²Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.

²³Do not forget the voice of your adversaries. The tumult of those who rise up against you ascends continually.

¹Whoever loves correction loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

²A good man shall obtain favor from the Lord, but he will condemn a man of wicked devices.

³A man shall not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

⁴A worthy woman is the crown of her husband, but a disgraceful wife is as rottenness in his bones.

⁵The thoughts of the righteous are just, but the advice of the wicked is deceitful.

⁶The words of the wicked are about lying in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.

⁷The wicked are overthrown, and are no more, but the house of the righteous shall stand.

⁸A man shall be commended according to his wisdom, but he who has a warped mind shall be despised.

⁹Better is he who is lightly esteemed, and has a servant, than he who honors himself, and lacks bread.

¹⁰A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

¹¹He who tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he who chases fantasies is void of understanding.

¹²The wicked desires the plunder of evil men, but the root of the righteous flourishes.

¹³An evil man is trapped by sinfulness of lips, but the righteous shall come out of trouble.

¹⁴A man shall be satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth. The work of a man's hands shall be rewarded to him.

¹⁵The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who is wise listens to counsel.

¹⁶A fool shows his annoyance the same day, but one who overlooks an insult is prudent.

¹⁷He who is truthful testifies honestly, but a false witness lies.

¹⁸There is one who speaks rashly like the piercing of a sword, but the tongue of the wise heals.

¹⁹Truth's lips will be established forever, but a lying tongue is only momentary.

²⁰Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but joy comes to the promoters of peace.

²¹No mischief shall happen to the righteous, but the wicked shall be filled with evil.

²²Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who do the truth are his delight.

²³A prudent man keeps his knowledge, but the hearts of fools proclaim foolishness.

²⁴The hands of the diligent ones shall rule, but laziness ends in slave labor.

²⁵Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad.

²⁶A righteous person is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

²⁷The slothful man doesn't roast his game, but the possessions of diligent men are prized.

²⁸In the way of righteousness is life; in its path there is no death.