The LORD Punishes the People of Midian
1 The LORD spoke to Moses. He said,
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"Pay the people of Midian back for what they did to the Israelites. After that, you will join the members of your family who have already died."
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So Moses said to the people, "Prepare some of your men for battle. They must go to war against Midian. They will carry out the LORD's plan to punish Midian.
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Send 1,000 men from each of the tribes of Israel into battle."
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So Moses prepared 12,000 men for battle. There were 1,000 from each tribe. They came from the families of Israel.
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Moses sent them into battle. He sent 1,000 from each tribe. The priest Phinehas went along with them. Phinehas was the son of Eleazar. Phinehas took some articles from the sacred tent with him. He also took the trumpets. The trumpet blasts would tell the people what to do and when to do it.
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They fought against Midian, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. They killed every man.
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Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur and Reba were among the men they killed. Those men were the five kings of Midian. The people of Israel also killed Balaam, the son of Beor, with a sword.
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They captured the women and children of Midian. They took for themselves all of the herds, flocks and goods.
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They burned up all of the towns where the people of Midian had settled. They also burned up all of their camps.
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They carried off everything they had taken. That included the people and the animals.
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They brought back to Israel's camp the prisoners and everything else they had taken. They took them to Moses and to the priest Eleazar. They brought them to the whole community. Israel was camped on the flatlands of Moab. They were by the Jordan River across from Jericho.
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Moses and the priest Eleazar went to meet them outside the camp. So did all of the leaders of the community.
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Moses was angry with the officers of the army who had returned from the battle. Some of them were the commanders of thousands of men. Others were the commanders of hundreds.
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"Have you let all of the women remain alive?" Moses asked them.
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"The women followed Balaam's advice. They caused the people of Israel to turn away from the Lord. The people worshiped the god Baal that was worshiped at Peor. So a plague struck them.
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Kill all of the boys. And kill every woman who has made love to a man.
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But save for yourselves every woman who has never made love to a man.
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"All of you who have killed anyone must stay outside the camp for seven days. And all of you who have touched anyone who was killed must do the same thing. On the third and seventh days you must make yourselves pure. You must also make your prisoners pure.
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Make all of your clothes pure and clean. Everything that is made out of leather, goat hair or wood must be made pure."
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Then the priest Eleazar spoke to the soldiers who had gone into battle. He said, "Here is what the law the LORD gave Moses requires.
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All of your gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin and lead
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must be put through fire. So must everything else that doesn't burn up. Then those things will be 'clean.' But they must also be made pure with the special water. In fact, everything that won't burn up must be put through that water.
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On the seventh day wash your clothes. And you will be 'clean.' Then you can come into the camp."