Numbers 31:1-8 ▼

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 “Take vengeance on the Midianites for the sons of Israel; afterward you will be gathered to your people.”

3 So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, so that they may go against Midian to execute the LORD’S vengeance on Midian.

4 You shall send a thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel to the war.”

5 So there were selected from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.

6 And Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, and the holy implements and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

7 So they made war against Midian, just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.

8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of those killed: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.