Numbers 31:1-24

The LORD spoke to Moses and said, “Pay back the Midianites for what they did to the Israelites; after that you will die.” So Moses said to the people, “Get some men ready for war. The LORD will use them to pay back the Midianites. Send to war a thousand men from each of the tribes of Israel.” So twelve thousand men got ready for war, a thousand men from each tribe. Moses sent those men to war; Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest was with them. He took with him the holy things and the trumpets for giving the alarm. They fought the Midianites as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every Midianite man. Among those they killed were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, who were the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with a sword. The Israelites captured the Midianite women and children, and they took all their flocks, herds, and goods. They burned all the Midianite towns where they had settled and all their camps, but they took all the people and animals and goods. Then they brought the captives, the animals, and the goods back to Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the Israelites. Their camp was on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River, across from Jericho. Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went outside the camp to meet them. Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders over a thousand men, and those over a hundred men, who returned from war. He asked them, “Why did you let the women live? They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and turned the Israelites from the LORD at Peor. Then a terrible sickness struck the LORD’s people. Kill all the Midianite boys, and kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations. But save for yourselves the girls who have not had sexual relations with a man. “All you men who killed anyone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third and seventh days you and your captives must make yourselves clean. You must clean all your clothes and anything made of leather, goat hair, or wood.” Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone to war, “These are the teachings that the LORD gave to Moses: Put any gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, or lead— anything that will not burn—into the fire, and then it will be clean. But also purify those things with the cleansing water. Then they will be clean. If something cannot stand the fire, wash it with the water. On the seventh day wash your clothes, and you will be clean. After that you may come into the camp.”