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.