Numbers 31:7-35

7So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and 1they killed every male. 8They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of those killed: 2Evi, Rekem, 3Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed 4Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9And the sons of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones; and they plundered all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their property. 10Then they 5burned all their cities where they lived and all their encampments. 11And 6they took all the plunder and all the spoils, both of people and of livestock. 12They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab which are by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

13And Moses, 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 the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15And Moses said to them, “Have you 7spared 8all the women? 169Behold, they caused the sons of Israel, through the 10counsel of 11Balaam, to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the plague took place among the congregation of the Lord! 1712Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man 13intimately. 18However, all the 14girls who have not known a 15man intimately, keep alive for yourselves. 1916And as for you, camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has killed a person and whoever has touched anyone killed, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20And you shall purify for yourselves every garment, every article of leather, every work of goats’ hair, and every article of wood.”

21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the Law which the Lord has commanded Moses: 22only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, 23everything that can 17withstand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it will be clean, only it shall be purified with 18water for impurity. But whatever cannot 19withstand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean; and afterward you may enter the camp.”

25Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 26“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the spoils 20that were captured, both of people and of livestock; 27and 21divide the spoils between the warriors who went to battle and all the congregation. 28Also, 22collect a tribute tax for the Lord from the men of war who went to battle, one 23in five hundred of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep; 29take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an 24offering to the Lord. 30And from the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn from every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep, from all the animals; and give them to the Levites who 25perform the duty of the tabernacle of the Lord.” 31Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

32Now the spoils that remained from the plunder which the 26men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33seventy-two thousand cattle, 34sixty-one thousand donkeys, 35and of captive people, of the women who had not known a 27man intimately, in all were thirty-two thousand people.