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 ^[a]burned all their cities where they lived and all their encampments. ¹¹ And ^(A)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 ^[b]spared ^(B)all the women? ^16 (C)Behold, they caused the sons of Israel, through the ^[c]counsel of ^(D)Balaam, to be unfaithful to the Lord in the matter of Peor, so that the plague took place among the congregation of the Lord!

¹² But ^(A)these, like unreasoning animals, ^(B)born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, using abusive speech where they have no knowledge, will in ^[a]the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed, ¹³ suffering wrong as ^(C)the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to ^(D)revel in the ^(E)daytime. They are stains and blemishes, ^(F)reveling in their ^[b]deceptions as they ^(G)feast with you, ¹⁴ having eyes full of adultery ^[c]that never cease from sin, ^(H)enticing ^(I)unstable souls, having hearts trained in ^(J)greed, ^(K)accursed children; ¹⁵ abandoning ^(L)the right way, they have gone astray, having followed ^(M)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(N)the ^[d]reward of unrighteousness; ¹⁶ but he received a rebuke for his own offense, ^(O)for a mute donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the insanity of the prophet.

¹¹ Woe to them! For they have gone ^(A)the way of Cain, and for pay ^[a]they have given themselves up to ^(B)the error of Balaam, and ^(C)perished in the rebellion of Korah.

¹⁴ But ^(A)I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the ^(B)teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a ^[a]stumbling block before the sons of Israel, ^(C)to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.