Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

25 Now Israel remained in ^(A)Acacia Grove,^[a] and the ^(B)people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ^2 (C)They invited the people to ^(D)the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^(E)bowed down to their gods. ³ So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^(F)the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(G)“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^(H)that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

⁵ So Moses said to ^(I)the judges of Israel, ^(J)“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶ And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^(K)who were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷ Now ^(L)when Phinehas ^(M)the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So ^(N)the plague was ^(O)stopped among the children of Israel. ⁹ And ^(P)those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^11 (Q)“Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel, because he was zealous with My zeal among them, so that I did not consume the children of Israel in ^(R)My zeal. ¹² Therefore say, ^(S)‘Behold, I give to him My ^(T)covenant of peace; ¹³ and it shall be to him and ^(U)his descendants after him a covenant of ^(V)an everlasting priesthood, because he was ^(W)zealous for his God, and ^(X)made ^[b]atonement for the children of Israel.’ ”

¹⁴ Now the name of the Israelite who was killed, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵ And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^(Y)Zur; he was head of the people of a father’s house in Midian.

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^17 (Z)“Harass the Midianites, and ^[c]attack them; ¹⁸ for they harassed you with their ^(AA)schemes^[d] by which they seduced you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed in the day of the plague because of Peor.”

Vengeance on the Midianites

31 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ^2 (A)“Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel. Afterward you shall ^(B)be gathered to your people.”

³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of yourselves for war, and let them go against the Midianites to take vengeance for the Lord on ^(C)Midian. ⁴ A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.”

⁵ So there were recruited from the divisions of Israel one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ Then Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from each tribe; he sent them to the war with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy articles and ^(D)the signal trumpets in his hand. ⁷ And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^(E)they killed all the ^(F)males. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of those who were killed—^(G)Evi, Rekem, ^(H)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. ^(I)Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.

⁹ And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captive, with their little ones, and took as spoil all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ They also burned with fire all the cities where they dwelt, and all their forts. ¹¹ And ^(J)they took all the spoil and all the booty—of man and beast.

Return from the War

¹² Then they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho. ¹³ And Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation, went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, with the captains over thousands and captains over hundreds, who had come from the battle.

¹⁵ And Moses said to them: “Have you kept ^(K)all the women alive? ¹⁶ Look, ^(L)these women caused the children of Israel, through the ^(M)counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the incident of Peor, and ^(N)there was a plague among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, ^(O)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man intimately. ¹⁸ But keep alive ^(P)for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man intimately. ¹⁹ And as for you, ^(Q)remain outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person, and ^(R)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ Purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything woven of goats’ hair, and everything made of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, “This is the ^[a]ordinance of the law which the Lord commanded Moses: ²² Only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can endure fire, you shall put through the fire, and it shall be clean; and it shall be purified ^(S)with the water of purification. But all that cannot endure fire you shall put through water. ^24 (T)And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”

Division of the Plunder

²⁵ Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁶ “Count up the plunder that was ^[b]taken—of man and beast—you and Eleazar the priest and the chief fathers of the congregation; ²⁷ and ^(U)divide the plunder into two parts, between those who took part in the war, who went out to battle, and all the congregation. ²⁸ And levy a ^[c]tribute for the Lord on the men of war who went out to battle: ^(V)one of every five hundred of the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep; ²⁹ take it from their half, and ^(W)give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the children of Israel’s half you shall take ^(X)one of every fifty, drawn from the persons, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep, from all the livestock, and give them to the Levites ^(Y)who ^[d]keep charge of the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² The booty remaining from the plunder, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep, ³³ seventy-two thousand cattle, ³⁴ sixty-one thousand donkeys, ³⁵ and thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known a man intimately. ³⁶ And the half, the portion for those who had gone out to war, was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep; ³⁷ and the Lord’s ^[e]tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five. ³⁸ The cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was seventy-two. ³⁹ The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which the Lord’s tribute was sixty-one. ⁴⁰ The persons were sixteen thousand, of which the Lord’s tribute was thirty-two persons. ⁴¹ So Moses gave the tribute which was the Lord’s heave offering to Eleazar the priest, ^(Z)as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴² And from the children of Israel’s half, which Moses separated from the men who fought— ⁴³ now the half belonging to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep, ⁴⁴ thirty-six thousand cattle, ⁴⁵ thirty thousand five hundred donkeys, ⁴⁶ and sixteen thousand persons— ⁴⁷ and ^(AA)from the children of Israel’s half Moses took one of every fifty, drawn from man and beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept charge of the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then the officers who were over thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses; ⁴⁹ and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a count of the men of war who are under our command, and not a man of us is missing. ⁵⁰ Therefore we have brought an offering for the Lord, what every man found of ornaments of gold: armlets and bracelets and signet rings and earrings and necklaces, ^(AB)to make ^[f]atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ So Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the fashioned ornaments. ⁵² And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the Lord, from the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels. ^53 (AC)(The men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.) ⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of meeting ^(AD)as a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord.