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Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord.
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Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately.
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But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately.
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And as for you, remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day.
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Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats' hair, and everything made of wood."
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Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, "This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses:
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Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
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everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water.
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And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp."
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Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
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"Count up the plunder that was taken--of man and beast--you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation;
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and divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation.
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And levy a tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep;
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take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord.
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And from the children of Israel's half you shall take one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord."
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So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.
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The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
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seventy-two thousand cattle,
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sixty-one thousand donkeys,
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and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately.
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And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep;