Keturah gave birth to these sons of Abraham: Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. These were the descendants of Keturah.

After Husham died, Hadad, son of Bedad succeeded him as king. Hadad defeated the Midianites in the country of Moab. The name of his capital city was Avith.

As the Midianite merchants were passing by, the brothers pulled Joseph out of the cistern. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. The Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.

Meanwhile, in Egypt the Midianites sold Joseph to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials and captain of the guard.

Moses Commits Murder and Flees to Midian

In the course of time Moses grew up. Then he went to see his own people and watched them suffering under forced labor. He saw a Hebrew, one of his own people, being beaten by an Egyptian.

When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done, he tried to have him killed. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian.

Moses Marries Zipporah

One day, while Moses was sitting by a well,

seven daughters of the priest of Midian came. They drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s sheep.

Moses at the Burning Bush

Moses was taking care of the sheep of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. As he led the sheep to the far side of the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of Elohim.

Now, Yahweh had said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

Moses’ Father-in-law Visits Israel’s Camp

Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard about everything Elohim had done for Moses and his people Israel and how Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.

Moses said to his brother-in-law Hobab, son of Reuel the Midianite, “We are going to the place Yahweh promised to give us. Come with us. We will be good to you, because Yahweh has promised good things to Israel.”

So the Moabites said to the leaders of Midian, “All those people will eventually eat up everything around us the same way an ox eats up the grass in a field.” At that time Balak, son of Zippor, was king of Moab.

The leaders of Moab and Midian left, taking money with them to pay for Balaam’s services. They came to Balaam and told him what Balak had said.

One of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did this right in front of Moses and the whole community of Israel while they were crying at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

The name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri, son of Salu. (Salu was the leader of a family from Simeon.)

The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, daughter of Zur. (Zur was the head of a family from the Midianite tribes.)

“Treat the Midianites as your enemies, and kill them

because they treated you as enemies. They plotted to trick you in the incident that took place at Peor. They used their sister Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed on the day of the plague caused by the incident at Peor.”

The Lord Commands Israel to Defeat Midian

Yahweh said to Moses,

“Get even with the Midianites for what they did to the Israelites. After that you will join your ancestors in death.”

Moses said to the people, “Some of your men must get ready to go to war against the Midianites. Yahweh will use them to get even with Midian.

They went to war against Midian, as Yahweh commanded Moses, and killed every man.

Among those killed were the five kings of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba. They also killed Balaam, son of Beor, in battle.

The Israelites took the Midianite women and children as prisoners of war. They also took all their animals, their livestock, and their valuables as loot.