פירוש על במדבר 31:11

ויקחו את כל השלל AND THEY TOOK ALL THE SPOIL…[AND THEY BROUGHT IT TO MOSES] — This tells us that they were pious and righteous men and were not suspected of robbery by stretching out their hand against the spoil without permission, for it is said, “they took all the spoil … [and brought it to Moses]” (Sifrei Bamidbar 157:5). About them it is expressed in the traditional literature (Songs 6:6): “They teeth are like a flock of ewes … [whereof all are perfect]’ — i.e., even thy soldiers are all righteous (see Rashi Songs 4:2)

ואת כל המלקוח באדם ובבהמה, “and all the captives, humans and animals.” Whenever the Torah does not mention the words שבי and מלקוח separately, the former refers to human captives, the latter to animals captured. When only the expression מלקוח is used it includes both humans and animals. (Rashi and Ibn Ezra).

The plunder of moveable property. As Rashi explains later (v. 32) on the words, “In addition to the בז ["plunder"] that was taken” that this refers to “what remained after the plunder of moveable property that the warriors plundered for themselves.” This implies that the plunder remained in their possession while the moveable property consisting of ornaments ["booty"] did not. For, this [booty] was brought before Hashem as it is written (v. 50). “We have therefore brought an offering for Hashem…” Thus one is forced to say that בז ["plunder"] refers to non-ornamental moveable property. Re’m writes: However, I do not know from where Rashi learned this, for it would have been more appropriate to say that [שלל "booty"] includes all moveable property, given that the plunder as a whole was divided into שלל ["booty"] and מלקוח ["spoil"]. It appears that Rashi also held that when it is written כל השלל [all the booty"] it includes everything, whether it was ornamental or not. However Rashi wishes to explain why sometimes Scripture calls it שלל ["booty"] and sometimes Scripture calls it בז ["plunder"]. Furthermore, why is it not written (in v. 32), “The spoil was in addition to the שלל ["booty"] that was taken…”? Rather, one must say that here שלל refers to ornamental moveable property, while בז refers to non-ornamental moveable property