1Yahweh said to Moses,
2“Get revenge for the people of Israel against the Midianites. After that, you will die and join your ancestors.”
3Moses told the people, “Prepare some men from among you for war. They will go fight Midian to carry out Yahweh’s revenge on them.
4You must send one thousand men from each tribe of Israel to this war.”
5So from the thousands of Israelite men, one thousand from each tribe were chosen, making a total of twelve thousand men armed for war.
6Moses sent them, one thousand from each tribe, to war. He also sent Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, with them. Phinehas carried the holy items for the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm.
7They fought against Midian, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
8They killed the kings of Midian along with the others who were slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with a sword.
9The people of Israel captured the Midianite women and their children. They also took all their livestock, their herds, and all their possessions as loot.
10They burned all the cities where the Midianites lived and all their encampments.
11They took all the captives and all the plunder, both people and animals.
12They brought the captives, the animals, and the plunder to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the community of Israel at their camp on the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan River near Jericho.
13Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went out to meet them outside the camp.
14Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands, and the commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the war.
15Moses asked them, “Why did you let all the women live?
16Remember, these women, because of Balaam’s advice, caused the people of Israel to betray Yahweh in the matter of Peor, which led to a plague among Yahweh’s people.
17Now, kill every male child, and kill every woman who has slept with a man.
18But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not slept with a man.
19Stay outside the camp for seven days. Anyone who has killed a person or touched a dead body must purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day. This applies to you and your captives.
20You must also purify every garment, everything made of leather, everything made of goats' hair, and everything made of wood.”
21Eleazar the priest told the soldiers who had gone to battle, “This is the rule of the law that Yahweh commanded Moses:
22Anything made of gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead—
23everything that can withstand fire—you must put through the fire, and it will be clean; however, it must also be purified with water for purification. Anything that cannot withstand fire, you must put through the water.
24You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and then you will be clean. After that, you may come back into the camp.”
25Yahweh said to Moses,
26"You, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the family groups of the community, are to count all the plunder taken from both people and animals.
27You are to divide the plunder into two parts: one for the soldiers who went to battle, and the other for all the rest of the community.
28From the soldiers who went to battle, collect a tax for Yahweh: one out of every five hundred people, cattle, donkeys, and flocks.
29Take this from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as Yahweh's special offering.
30From the half belonging to the people of Israel, you must take one out of every fifty people, cattle, donkeys, and flocks—all the livestock—and give them to the Levites, who are responsible for the duties of Yahweh's holy tent."
31Moses and Eleazar the priest did exactly as Yahweh commanded Moses.
32The plunder, not including what the soldiers had kept for themselves, was 675,000 sheep,
3372,000 cattle,
3461,000 donkeys,
35and 32,000 virgin women.
36The half that went to the soldiers was 337,500 sheep.
37From these sheep, Yahweh's tax was 675.
38There were 36,000 cattle; Yahweh's tax from them was 72.
39There were 30,500 donkeys; Yahweh's tax from them was 61.
40There were 16,000 people; Yahweh's tax from them was 32 people.
41Moses gave the tax, which was Yahweh's special offering, to Eleazar the priest, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
42From the half belonging to the people of Israel, which Moses separated from the soldiers—
43(the community's half was 337,500 sheep,
4436,000 cattle,
4530,500 donkeys,
46and 16,000 people)—
47from the people of Israel's half, Moses took one out of every fifty, both people and animals, and gave them to the Levites, who performed the duties of Yahweh's holy tent, just as Yahweh commanded Moses.
48The army officers—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—came to Moses.
49They told Moses, "Your servants have counted the soldiers under our command, and not one of us is missing.
50So we have brought an offering to Yahweh of what each man acquired: gold jewelry, armlets, bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for our lives before Yahweh."
51Moses and Eleazar the priest took all the gold and all the crafted jewelry.
52The total gold from the special offering given to Yahweh by the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.
53The soldiers had each taken their own share of the plunder.
54Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and hundreds and brought it into the Meeting Tent, as a memorial for the people of Israel before Yahweh.