Numbers 31:1-24 - War Against The Midianites

¹ And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, ² Avenge the children of Israel upon the Midianites; afterwards shalt thou be gathered unto thy peoples.

³ And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from amongst you men for military service, that they go against Midian to execute Jehovah's vengeance upon Midian. ⁴ Of every tribe a thousand, of all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war. ⁵ And there were levied out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand by tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand by the tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, and the holy instruments, even the alarm-trumpets in his hand.

⁷ And they warred against Midian, as Jehovah had commanded Moses, and slew all the males. ⁸ And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the others slain, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword. ⁹ And the children of Israel took the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took for a spoil all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods; ¹⁰ and all their cities in their settlements and all their encampments they burned with fire. ¹¹ And they took all the booty, and all the prey, of man and of cattle; ¹² and they brought to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the assembly of the children of Israel, the captives and the prey and the booty, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan of Jericho.

¹³ And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the assembly went forth to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, with the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, who came from the service of the war; ¹⁵ and Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ¹⁶ Lo, these, through the counsel of Balaam, caused the children of Israel to commit sin against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague on the assembly of Jehovah. ¹⁷ And now slay every male among the little ones, and slay every woman that hath known man by lying with him, ¹⁸ but all the children among the women that have not known lying with a man, keep alive for yourselves.

¹⁹ And encamp outside the camp seven days; whoever hath killed a person, and whoever hath touched any slain; ye shall purify yourselves on the third day, and on the seventh day, you and your captives. ²⁰ And every garment, and every vessel of skin, and all work of goat's hair, and every utensil of wood shall ye purify.

²¹ And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war that had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah hath commanded Moses. ²² Only the gold, and the silver, the copper, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that passeth through the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean; only it shall be purified with the water of separation; and everything that cannot pass through the fire ye shall make go through the water. ²⁴ And ye shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean; and afterwards ye may come into the camp.