1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2. “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you will be gathered to your people.”
3. Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm some of your men for war, and let them go against the Midianites to give the vengeance of the Lord against Midian.
4. A thousand from each tribe, throughout all the tribes of Israel, you will send to the war.”
5. So there were delivered from the thousands of Israel a thousand of each tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6. Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the holy vessels and the trumpets to sound the alarm in his hand.
7. They waged war against the Midianites, as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
8. They killed the kings of Midian, in addition to the rest of those who were killed: Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword.
9. The children of Israel returned with the women of Midian and their children and took their livestock, and all their flocks, and all their wealth for plunder.
10. They burned with fire all their cities in which they lived and all their camps.
11. They took all the plunder and all the prey of men and of beasts.
12. They brought the captives, the prey, and the plunder to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, to the assembly of the children of Israel, and to the camp on the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan across from Jericho.
13. Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly went to meet them outside the camp.