Numbers 31:7-35

7They fought against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – five Midianite kings. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.

9The Israelites took the women of Midian captives along with their little ones, and took all their herds, all their flocks, and all their goods as plunder.

10They burned all their towns where they lived and all their encampments.

11They took all the plunder and all the spoils, both people and animals.

12They brought the captives and the spoils and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the Israelite community, to the camp on the plains of Moab, along the Jordan River across from Jericho.

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

14But Moses was furious with the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and commanders over hundreds, who had come from service in the war.

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

16Look, these people through the counsel of Balaam caused the Israelites to act treacherously against the Lord in the matter of Peor – which resulted in the plague among the community of the Lord!

17Now therefore kill every boy, and kill every woman who has had sexual intercourse with a man.

18But all the young women who have not had sexual intercourse with a man will be yours.

19“Any of you who has killed anyone or touched any of the dead, remain outside the camp for seven days; purify yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

20You must purify each garment and everything that is made of skin, everything made of goat’s hair, and everything made of wood.”

21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, “This is the ordinance of the law that the Lord commanded Moses:

22‘Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23everything that may stand the fire, you are to pass through the fire, and it will be ceremonially clean, but it must still be purified with the water of purification. Anything that cannot withstand the fire you must pass through the water.

24You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you will be ceremonially clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.’”

25Then the Lord spoke to Moses:

26“You and Eleazar the priest, and all the family leaders of the community, take the sum of the plunder that was captured, both people and animals.

27Divide the plunder into two parts, one for those who took part in the war – who went out to battle – and the other for all the community.

28“You must exact a tribute for the Lord from the fighting men who went out to battle: one life out of five hundred, from the people, the cattle, and from the donkeys and the sheep.

29You are to take it from their half-share and give it to Eleazar the priest for a raised offering to the Lord.

30From the Israelites’ half-share you are to take one portion out of fifty of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep – from every kind of animal – and you are to give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the care of the Lord’s tabernacle.”

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

32The spoil that remained of the plunder which the fighting men had gathered was 675,000 sheep,

3372,000 cattle,

3461,000 donkeys,

35and 32,000 young women who had never had sexual intercourse with a man.