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.
15. Moses said to them, “Why did you let the women live?
16. These are the women who listened to Balaam and caused the men of Israel to turn away from the Lord that time at Peor. The disease will come to the Lord’S people again.
17. Now, kill all the Midianite boys, and kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations with a man.
18. You can let all the young girls live—but only if they never had sexual relations with any man.
19. And then, all you men who killed other people must stay outside the camp for seven days. You must stay outside the camp even if you just touched a dead body. On the third day you and your prisoners must make yourselves pure. You must do the same thing again on the seventh day.