Vengeance on Midian

1Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2“Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.” 3And Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may [†]go against Midian to execute Yahweh’s vengeance on Midian. 4One thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war.” 5So there were [†]furnished from the thousands of Israel, one thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war. 6And Moses sent them, one thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy vessels and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. 7So they made war against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they killed every male. 8They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; they also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. 9And the sons of Israel captured the women of Midian and their little ones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered. 10Then they burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps with fire. 11And they took all the spoil and all the loot, both of man and of beast. 12And they brought the captives and the loot and the spoil to Moses and 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.

13And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp. 14And Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. 15So Moses said to them, “Have you [†]spared all the women? 16Behold, these [†]caused the sons of Israel, through the word of Balaam, to [†]act unfaithfully against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of Yahweh. 17So now, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man [†]intimately. 18But all the [†]girls who have not known man [†]intimately, [†]spare for yourselves. 19And you, camp outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the third day and on the seventh day. 20And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of [†]leather and all the work of goats’ hair and all articles of wood.”

21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law which Yahweh has commanded Moses: 22only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead, 23everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with water for impurity. But whatever cannot stand the fire you shall pass through the water. 24And you shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp.”

Division of the Loot

25Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 26“You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers’ households of the congregation take a count of the loot [†]that was captured, both of man and of animal; 27and divide the loot between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. 28And you shall exact a levy for Yahweh from the men of war who went out to battle, one [†]in five hundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep; 29take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as a [†]contribution to Yahweh. 30And from the sons of Israel’s half, you shall take one drawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep charge of the tabernacle of Yahweh.” 31Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

32Now the loot that remained from the plunder which the [†]men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep, 33and 72,000 cattle, 34and 61,000 donkeys, 35and of human beings, of the women who had not known man [†]intimately, all the persons were 32,000.

36And the half, the portion of those who went out to war, was as follows: the number of sheep was 337,500; 37and the levy of Yahweh from the sheep was 675; 38and the cattle were 36,000, from which the levy of Yahweh was 72; 39and the donkeys were 30,500, from which the levy of Yahweh was 61; 40and the human beings were 16,000, from whom the levy of Yahweh was 32 persons. 41And Moses gave the levy, which was the contribution to Yahweh, to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

42As for the sons of Israel’s half, which Moses [†]separated from the men who had gone to war— 43now the congregation’s half was 337,500 sheep, 44and 36,000 cattle, 45and 30,500 donkeys, 46and the human beings were 16,000— 47and from the sons of Israel’s half, Moses took one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the responsibility of the tabernacle of Yahweh, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

48Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses, 49and they said to Moses, “Your servants have taken a census of men of war who are in our charge, and no man of us is missing. 50So we have brought near as an offering to Yahweh what each man found—articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and necklaces—to make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh.” 51And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of crafted articles. 52And all the gold from the contribution offering which they raised up in offering to Yahweh, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 [†]shekels. 53The men of war had taken plunder, every man for himself. 54So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and they brought it to the tent of meeting as a memorial for the sons of Israel before Yahweh.