Numbers 31:13-24 - The Army Returns

¹³ Moses and 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 of hundreds, who served in the war. ¹⁵ And Moses said to them, “Have you let all the women live? ¹⁶ Look, these [are the women who] caused the Israelites, by the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor, and so a plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, kill every male among the children, and kill every woman who is not a virgin. ¹⁸ But all the young girls who have not known a man intimately, keep alive for yourselves [to marry].

¹⁹ Camp outside the camp for seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any dead body, purify yourselves and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment and every article made of leather and all the things made of goats’ hair, and every article made of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can stand fire, you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified with the water of purification [to remove its impurity]; and all that cannot stand fire [such as fabrics] you shall pass through water. ²⁴ And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may come into the camp.”