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¹ AND the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,² Avenge the children of Israel against the Midianites; afterward you shall be gathered to your people.³ And Moses said to the people, Arm some of the men from among you for the host, and let them go against the Midianites to avenge the LORD against Midian.⁴ Of every tribe, a thousand from each tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you shall send into the army.⁵ So there were selected out of the tribes of Israel a thousand men from each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.⁶ Then Moses sent them to war, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand armed men, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the army, with the holy vessels of the sanctuary and with trumpets to blow in his hand.

⁷ And they warred against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.⁸ And they slew the kings of Midian with the rest of those that were slain; namely, Evi, Rakim, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian; Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword.⁹ And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives; and their little ones and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their I wealth they plundered.¹⁰ And they burned all the cities wherein they dwelt and all their unwalled villages with fire.¹¹ And they carried away all the spoil and all the booty, both of men and of beasts.¹² And they brought the captives, the booty, and the spoil, to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab which are by the Jordan near Jericho.

¹³ And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the princes of the congregation went forth to meet them outside the camp.¹⁴ And Moses was wroth with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and captains over hundreds who had come from the battle.¹⁵ And Moses said to them, Why have you let all the women live?¹⁶ For it was they who caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague in the congregation of the LORD.¹⁷ Now therefore kill every male among the little ones and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him.¹⁸ But all the female children, who have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.¹⁹ And as for you, you shall abide outside the camp seven days; whosoever has killed any person and whosoever has touched any slain purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day,²⁰ And purify all your garments and all that is made of skin and all the work of goats hair and all things made of wood.²¹ And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had returned from the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses:²² Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,²³ Everything that may abide the fire, you shall make it to go through the fire and it shall be clean; nevertheless it shall be purified with the water which is used for cleansing; and all that cannot abide the fire, you shall make pass through the water.²⁴ And you must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean, and afterward you shall come into the camp.

²⁵ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,²⁶ Take the count of the prey that was taken and of the captives, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the chiefs of the fathers of the congregation;²⁷ And divide the booty into two parts; between the men of war who went out to battle and between all the congregation;²⁸ And levy a tribute for the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle; out of all the congregation, one person of every five hundred, both of the persons and of the oxen and of the asses and of the sheep;²⁹ Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as an offering to the LORD.³⁰ And from the children of Israels half, you shall take one out of every fifty, of the persons, of the oxen, of the asses, and of the flocks, and of all the beasts, and give them to the Levites, who have charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.³² And the booty and the captives which the men of war had plundered was six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,³³ And seventy-two thousand oxen,³⁴ And sixty-one thousand asses,³⁵ And thirty-two thousand persons in all, of women who had not known man by lying with him.³⁶ And the half, which was the portion of those who went out to war was in number three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred sheep;³⁷ And the LORDS tribute of the sheep was six thousand and seven hundred and fifty.³⁸ And the oxen were thirty-six thousand; of which the LORDS tribute was seven hundred and twenty.³⁹ And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORDS tribute was six hundred and ten.⁴⁰ And the persons were sixteen thousand; of which the LORDS tribute was three hundred and twenty persons.⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORDS gift offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.⁴² And of the children of Israels half, which Moses divided from the men who had gone out to war,⁴³ (Now the half that pertained to the congregation was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand and five hundred sheep.⁴⁴ And thirty-six thousand oxen,⁴⁵ And thirty thousand and five hundred asses,⁴⁶ And sixteen thousand persons),⁴⁷ Even of the children of Israels half, Moses took one portion of every fifty, both of man and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites, who have charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ And the officers who were over thousands of the host, the commanders of thousands and the captains of hundreds came near to Moses;⁴⁹ And they said to Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge and there lacks not one man of us.⁵⁰ We have therefore brought as an offering for the LORD what every man has found, articles of gold, ankle chains, and bracelets, rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our souls before the LORD.⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all wrought jewels.⁵² And all the gold of the gift offering that they offered to the LORD, from the commanders of thousands and from the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels⁵³ (For the men of war had plundered every man for himself.)⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from commanders of thousands and from captains of hundreds and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.