1. The Lord spoke to Moses and said,
2. “Moses, tell the Israelites this: ‘Go and attack the Midianites, and do to them what they did to you.’ After that Moses, you will die.”
3. So Moses spoke to the people. He said, “Choose some of your men to be soldiers. The Lord will use these men to do to the Midianites what they did to you.
4. Choose 1000 men from each of the tribes of Israel.
5. There will be a total of 12,000 soldiers from the tribes of Israel.”
6. Moses sent these 12,000 men to war. He sent Phinehas son of Eleazar with them as the priest. Phinehas took the holy things and the horns and trumpets with him.
7. The Israelites fought the Midianites as the Lord had commanded. They killed all the Midianite men.
8. Among the people who they killed were Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with a sword.
9. The Israelites took the Midianite women and children as prisoners. They also took all their sheep, cattle, and other things.
10. Then they burned all their towns and villages.
11. They took all the people and animals
12. and brought them to Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the other Israelites. They brought all the things they took in war to the camp of Israel. The Israelites were camped in the Jordan Valley in Moab, on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho.
13. Then Moses, Eleazar the priest, and the leaders of the people went out of the camp to meet with the soldiers.
14. Moses was very angry with the leaders of the army, the commanders of 1000 men, and the commanders of 100 men, who came back from the war.