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"1Takefullvengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites; afterward you will be 2gathered to your people."
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Mosesspoke to the people, saying, "Armmen from among you for the war, that they may goagainstMidian to execute3the LORD'Svengeance on Midian.
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"A thousand from each tribe of all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the war."
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So there were furnished from the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve*thousandarmed for war.
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Mosessent them, a thousand from each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war with them, 4and the holyvessels and 5the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.
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So they madewaragainstMidian, just as the LORD had commandedMoses, and 6they killedeverymale.
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They killed the kings of Midianalong with the rest of their slain: 7Evi and Rekem and 8Zur and Hur and Reba, the fivekings of Midian; they also killed9Balaam the son of Beor with the sword.
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The sons of Israelcaptured the women of Midian and their littleones; and all their cattle and all their flocks and all their goods they plundered.
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Then they burnedall their citieswhere they lived and all their camps with fire.
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10They tookall the spoil and all the prey, both of man and of beast.
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They brought the captives and the prey and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
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Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the congregationwent out to meet them outside** the camp.
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Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who had come from service in the war.
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And Mosessaid to them, "Have you spared11all the women?
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"12Behold, thesecaused the sons of Israel, through the counsel of 13Balaam, to trespass* against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.
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"14Now therefore, killeverymale among the littleones, and killeverywoman who has knownmanintimately*.
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"But all the girls*who have not knownmanintimately*, spare for yourselves.
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"15And you, campoutside* the campsevendays; whoever has killed any person and whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves, you and your captives, on the thirdday and on the seventhday.
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"You shall purify for yourselves everygarment and everyarticle of leather and all the work of goats' hair, and allarticles of wood."
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Then Eleazar the priestsaid to the men of war who had gone to battle, "This is the statute of the lawwhich the LORD has commandedMoses:
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only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin and the lead,
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everything that can stand the fire, you shall passthrough the fire, and it shall be clean, but it shall be purified with 16water for impurity. But whatever*cannotstand the fire you shall passthrough the water.
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"And you shall wash your clothes on the seventhday and be clean, and afterward you may enter the camp."
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"You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' households of the congregationtake a count of the booty that was captured, both of man and of animal;
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and 17divide the bootybetween the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation.
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"18Levy a tax for the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle, one in fivehundred of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the sheep;
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take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest, as an offering to the LORD.
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"From the sons of Israel'shalf, you shall takeonedrawn out of every fifty of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys and of the sheep, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who 19keepcharge of the tabernacle of the LORD."
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Moses and Eleazar the priestdidjust as the LORD had commandedMoses.
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Now the booty that remained from the spoilwhich the men of war had plundered was 675,000******sheep,
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and from the sons of Israel'shalf, Mosestookonedrawn out of every fifty, both of man and of animals, and gave them to the Levites, who keptcharge of the tabernacle of the LORD, just as the LORD had commandedMoses.
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Then the officerswho were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approachedMoses,
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and they said to Moses, "Your servants have taken a census of men of warwho are in our charge, and noman of us is missing.
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"So we have brought as an offering to the LORDwhateachmanfound, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signetrings, earrings and necklaces, 21to makeatonement for ourselvesbefore the LORD."
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Moses and Eleazar the priesttook the gold from them, all kinds of wroughtarticles.
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All the gold of the offeringwhich they offered up to the LORD, from the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, was 16,750*****shekels.
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22The men of war had takenbooty, everyman for himself.
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So Moses and Eleazar the priesttook the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it to the tent of meeting as 23a memorial for the sons of Israelbefore the LORD.