The Slaughter of Midian

31 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “^(A)Take vengeance on the Midianites for the sons of Israel; afterward you will be ^(B)gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, so that they may ^[a]go against Midian to execute ^(C)the Lord’s vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So there were selected from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, ^(D)and the holy implements and ^(E)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ So they made war against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses, and ^(F)they killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of those killed: ^(G)Evi, Rekem, ^(H)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed ^(I)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ And 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. ¹⁰ Then they ^[b]burned all their cities where they lived and all their encampments. ¹¹ And ^(J)they took all the plunder and all the spoils, both of people and of livestock. ¹² They 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.

¹³ And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But 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. ¹⁵ And Moses said to them, “Have you ^[c]spared ^(K)all the women? ^16 (L)Behold, they caused the sons of Israel, through the ^[d]counsel of ^(M)Balaam, to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the plague took place among the congregation of the Lord! ^17 (N)Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man ^[e]intimately. ¹⁸ However, all the ^[f]girls who have not known a ^[g]man intimately, keep alive for yourselves. ^19 (O)And 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. ²⁰ And you shall purify for yourselves every garment, every article of leather, every work of goats’ hair, and every article 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 Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can ^[h]withstand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it will be clean, only it shall be purified with ^(P)water for impurity. But whatever cannot ^[i]withstand the fire you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and you will be clean; and afterward you may enter the camp.”