1 Then the Loʀᴅ spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “ANum 25:1, 16, 17Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be BNum 20:24, 26; 27:13gathered to your people.” 3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may 1Lit bego against Midian to execute ALev 26:25the Loʀᴅ’s vengeance on Midian. 4  “A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5 So there were 1Lit deliveredfurnished from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, ANum 14:44and the holy vessels and BNum 10:8, 9the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7 So they made war against Midian, just as the Loʀᴅ had commanded Moses, and ADeut 20:13; Judg 21:11; 1 Kin 11:15, 16they killed every male. 8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: AJosh 13:21Evi and Rekem and BNum 25:15Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed CNum 31:16; Josh 13:22Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9 The sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10 Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11 ADeut 20:14They took all the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast. 12 They brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and 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.

13 Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14 Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15 And Moses said to them, “Have you 1Lit let...livespared ADeut 20:14all the women? 16  “ANum 25:1-9Behold, these 1Lit were tocaused the sons of Israel, through the 2Lit wordcounsel of BNum 31:8Balaam, to 3Possibly defect from the Lordtrespass against the Loʀᴅ in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the Loʀᴅ. 17  “ADeut 7:2; 20:16-18Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man 1Lit by lying with a manintimately. 18  “But all the 1Lit female childrengirls who have not known man 2Lit by lying with a manintimately, 3Lit keep alivespare for yourselves. 19  “ANum 19:11-22And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20  “You shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of 1Or skinleather and all the work of goats’ hair, and all articles of wood.”

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which the Loʀᴅ has commanded Moses: 22 only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead, 23 everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with ANum 19:9, 17water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24  “And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”

25 Then the Loʀᴅ 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 booty 1Lit of captivesthat was captured, both of man and of animal; 27 and AJosh 22:8divide the booty between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28  “ANum 18:21-30Levy a tax for the Loʀᴅ from the men of war who went out to battle, one 1Lit soul fromin five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29 take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an 1Lit heave offering, and so throughout the choffering to the Loʀᴅ. 30  “From the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of 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 ANum 3:7, 8, 25, 26, 31, 36, 37; 18:3, 4keep charge of the tabernacle of the Loʀᴅ.” 31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as the Loʀᴅ had commanded Moses.

32 Now the booty that remained from the spoil which the 1Lit peoplemen of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33 and 72,000 cattle, 34 and 61,000 donkeys, 35 and of human beings, of the women who had not known man 1Lit by lying with a manintimately, all the persons were 32,000.

36 The half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500, 37 and the Loʀᴅ’s levy of the sheep was 675; 38 and the cattle were 36,000, from which the Loʀᴅ’s levy was 72; 39 and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the Loʀᴅ’s levy was 61; 40 and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the Loʀᴅ’s levy was 32 persons. 41 Moses gave the levy which was the Loʀᴅ’s offering to Eleazar the priest, just ANum 5:9, 10; 18:19as the Loʀᴅ had commanded Moses.

42 As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses 1Or dividedseparated from the men who had gone to war— 43 now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44 and 36,000 cattle, 45 and 30,500 donkeys, 46 and the human beings were 16,000— 47 and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Loʀᴅ, just as the Loʀᴅ had commanded Moses.

48 Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses, 49 and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50  “So we have brought as an offering to the Loʀᴅ what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces, AEx 30:12-16to make atonement for ourselves before the Loʀᴅ.” 51 Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles. 52 All the gold of the offering which they offered up to the Loʀᴅ, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels. 53 ANum 31:32; Deut 20:14The men of war had taken booty, every man for himself. 54 So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as AEx 30:16a memorial for the sons of Israel before the Loʀᴅ.