1 Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Thoroughly avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.
3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm men from among you for the war, that they may come upon Midian to execute Jehovah’s vengeance on Midian.
4 A thousand from each tribe, of all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the war.
5 So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand for each tribe were committed, twelve thousand armed for war.
6 And Moses sent them, a thousand for each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest with them, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
7 And they warred against Midian, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses; and they killed every male.
8 And they killed the kings of Midian in addition to the others slain among them: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; also Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9 And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their cattle and all their livestock and all their goods they plundered.
10 And all their cities in which they had settled and all their encampments, they burned with fire.
11 And they took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast.
12 And they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the assembly of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which was beside the Jordan at Jericho.
13 And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them outside the camp.
14 And Moses became angry with the officers of the company, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from service in the war.
15 And Moses said to them, Have you kept all the women alive?
16 It was these who caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to act unfaithfully against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, so that the plague came upon the assembly of Jehovah.
17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with him.
18 But all the little ones among the women, who have not known a male by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19 And you, encamp outside the camp seven days, everyone who has killed any person and everyone who has touched any slain; purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.