War against Midian

31 Later, the Lord told Moses, ² “Be sure to exact vengeance on behalf of the Israelis from the Midianites, after which you’ll be taken home^[a] to your people.”

³ So Moses instructed the people, “Muster your men of war to attack the Midianites and deliver the Lord’s vengeance against Midian. ⁴ Send 1,000 men to war from every tribe throughout all of Israel.” ⁵ So 1,000 men from every tribe—12,000 from the thousands of Israel—were mustered and equipped for war.

⁶ Moses sent 1,000 men from every tribe to fight against them, along with Eleazar’s son Phinehas, in whose hands were the articles of the sanctuary and trumpets to sound battle alarms. ⁷ They fought against the Midianites^[b] just as the Lord had commanded Moses, killing every man. ⁸ They executed the five kings of Midian, including Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also executed Beor’s son Balaam with a sword. ⁹ After this, the Israelis took captive the Midianite women and children^[c] and confiscated as spoils of war all their cattle, livestock, and their goods. ¹⁰ They burned every town where they had lived and incinerated all of their encampments. ¹¹ They took all the booty and plunder, including both humans and animals. ¹² Then they brought the captives, booty, and plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the entire community of Israel at the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan River in Jericho. ¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.