The Lord Punishes the Midianites

31 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ² “Pay the Midianites back for what they did to the Israelites. After that, you will join the members of your family who have already died.”

³ So Moses said to the people, “Prepare some of your men for battle. They must go to war against Midian. They will carry out the Lord’s plan to punish Midian. ⁴ Send 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel into battle.” ⁵ So Moses prepared 12,000 men for battle. There were 1,000 from each tribe. They came from the families of Israel. ⁶ Moses sent them into battle. He sent 1,000 from each tribe. Phinehas the priest went along with them. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. Phinehas took some things from the sacred tent with him. He also took the trumpets. The trumpet blasts would tell the people what to do and when to do it.

⁷ They fought against Midian, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. They killed every man. ⁸ Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba were among the men they killed. Those men were the five kings of Midian. The Israelites also killed Balaam with their swords. Balaam was the son of Beor. ⁹ The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children. They took for themselves all the herds, flocks and goods. ¹⁰ They burned down all the towns where the Midianites lived. They also burned all their camps. ¹¹ They carried off everything they had taken. That included the people and the animals. ¹² They brought back to Israel’s camp the prisoners and everything else they had taken. They took them to Moses and to Eleazar the priest. They brought them to the whole community. Israel was camped on the plains of Moab. They were by the Jordan River across from Jericho.

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