Numbers 31:1-20

1The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

2“Take vengeance for the Israelites on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people [in death].”

3Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for war, so that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord’s vengeance on Midian [for seducing Israel to participate in idolatry].

4A thousand [fighting men] from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”

5So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe were selected, twelve thousand armed for war.

6Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to war with them, and the sacred vessels [of the sanctuary] and the trumpets to blow the alarm in his hand.

7They made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

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

9The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their children; and all their cattle, all their livestock, and all their property they took as spoil [of war].

10They burned all the cities where they lived, and all their encampments with fire.

11They took all the plunder and all the spoils of war, both people and livestock.

12Then they brought the captives, the spoils, and the plunder to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the Israelites at the camp on the plains of Moab by the Jordan [River] across from Jericho.

13Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.

14But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, who served in the war.

15And Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live?

16Look, these [are the women who] caused the Israelites, by the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so a plague came among the congregation of the Lord.

17Now therefore, kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who is not a virgin.

18But all the young girls who have not known a man intimately, keep alive for yourselves [to marry].

19Camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any dead body, purify yourselves and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day.

20You shall purify every garment and every article made of leather and all the things made of goats’ hair, and every article made of wood.”