1The LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
2"Take revenge for the people of Israel on the Midianites. After that you will be gathered to your people."
3So Moses spoke to the people. He said, "Arm some of your men for war. Let them go against the Midianites, and carry out the LORD's revenge on Midian."
4"From every tribe you shall send a thousand men to the war, from all the tribes of Israel."
5So out of the thousands of Israel a thousand men were handed over from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe. He sent them with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, who carried the holy instruments and the trumpets for blowing.
7They fought against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
8They killed the kings of Midian along with the rest of those who were killed. These were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
9The people of Israel took the women of Midian captive, and their little ones. They took as plunder all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods.
10They burned with fire all the cities where the Midianites lived, and all their fine strongholds.
11They took all the plunder and all the prey, both people and animals.
12They brought the captives, the prey, and the plunder to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the people of Israel. They brought them to the camp on the plains of Moab, by the Jordan near Jericho.
13Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went out of the camp to meet them.
14Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who came back from the battle.
15Moses said to them, "Have you kept all the women alive?"
16"Look, these women were the ones who followed Balaam's advice. They made the people of Israel sin against the LORD in what happened at Peor, and a plague came on the LORD's people."
17"So now kill every male among the little ones. And kill every woman who has slept with a man."
18"But keep alive for yourselves all the girls who have never slept with a man."
19"Stay outside the camp for seven days. Anyone who has killed a person, and anyone who has touched a dead body, must purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Purify your captives too."
20"Purify every piece of clothing, everything made of leather, everything made of goats' hair, and everything made of wood."
21Then Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone into the battle, "This is the rule of the law that the LORD commanded Moses."
22"The gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead -"
23"everything that can stand the fire, you must put through the fire, and it will be clean. Even so, it must also be purified with the water of separation. Everything that cannot stand the fire you must put through the water."
24"You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and then you will be clean. After that you may come into the camp."
25The LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
26"You, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the families of the people, count what was taken, both people and animals."
27"Divide what was taken into two parts. One part is for the men who fought and went out to battle, and one part is for all the rest of the people."
28"From the men of war who went out to battle, collect a tribute for the LORD: one out of every five hundred, of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the sheep."
29"Take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest as a heave offering to the LORD."
30"From the half that belongs to the people of Israel, take one out of every fifty, of the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flocks, of every kind of animal. Give them to the Levites, who take care of the tabernacle of the LORD."
31Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32The booty, which was what was left of the plunder the men of war had taken, was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
33seventy-two thousand cattle,
34sixty-one thousand donkeys,
35and thirty-two thousand people in all - women who had never slept with a man.
36The half that belonged to those who went out to war came to three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.
37The LORD's tribute from the sheep was six hundred and seventy-five.
38The cattle were thirty-six thousand, and the LORD's tribute from them was seventy-two.
39The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, and the LORD's tribute from them was sixty-one.
40The people were sixteen thousand, and the LORD's tribute from them was thirty-two people.
41Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD's heave offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42Then there was the half for the people of Israel, which Moses had set apart from what the fighting men had.
43(Now the half that belonged to the people was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
44thirty-six thousand cattle,
45thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
46and sixteen thousand people.)
47From the half that belonged to the people of Israel, Moses took one out of every fifty, both of people and of animals. He gave them to the Levites, who took care of the tabernacle of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses.
48Then the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came to Moses.
49They said to Moses, "Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our charge, and not one man of us is missing."
50"So we have brought an offering for the LORD. Each man has brought what he found: gold jewels, chains, bracelets, rings, earrings, and pendants, to make atonement for ourselves before the LORD."
51Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all of it worked into jewellery.
52All the gold of the offering that they offered up to the LORD, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
53(For the men of war had each taken plunder for himself.)
54Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation. It was to be a reminder for the people of Israel before the LORD.