Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

Thoroughly avenge the children of Israel on the  ¹Midianites; afterward you will be gathered to your people.

And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm men from among you for the war, that they may come upon Midian to execute Jehovah's vengeance on Midian.

A thousand from each tribe, of all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to the war.

So out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand for each tribe were committed, twelve thousand armed for war.

And Moses sent them, a thousand for each tribe, to the war, and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest with them, to the war, with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for the alarm in his hand.

And they warred against Midian, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses; and they killed every male.

And they killed the kings of Midian in addition to the others slain among them: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, the five kings of Midian; also Balaam the son of Beor they slew with the sword.

And the children of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and all their cattle and all their livestock and all their goods they plundered.

And all their cities in which they had settled and all their encampments, they burned with fire.

And they took all the spoil and all the booty, both of man and of beast.

And they brought the captives and the booty and the spoil to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the assembly of the children of Israel, to the camp in the plains of Moab, which was beside the Jordan at Jericho.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the assembly went out to meet them outside the camp.

And Moses became angry with the officers of the company, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from service in the war.

And Moses said to them, Have you kept all the women alive?

It was these who caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to act unfaithfully against Jehovah in the matter of Peor, so that the plague came upon the assembly of Jehovah.

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with him.

But all the little ones among the women, who have not known a male by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

And you, encamp outside the camp seven days, everyone who has killed any person and everyone who has touched any slain;  ¹purify yourselves on the  ²third day and on the  ²seventh day, you and your captives.

And you shall purify for yourselves every garment and every article of skin and everything made of goats' hair and every article of wood.

And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who had gone to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah has commanded Moses:

Only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

Everything that can go into the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it will become clean; but it shall be purified with the water for impurity; and everything that cannot go into the fire you shall pass through the water.

And you shall wash your  ¹clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean; and afterward you may come into the camp.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' households of the assembly, take the sum of the booty that was captured, both of man and of beast,

And halve the booty between those skilled in war who went out to battle and the whole assembly.

And levy a tribute to Jehovah from the men of war who went out to battle: one living thing out of five hundred, of the persons and of the cattle and of the donkeys and of the flock;

Take it from their half and give it to  ¹Eleazar the priest, for Jehovah's heave offering.

And of the children of Israel's half, you shall take one seized out of fifty, of the persons, of the cattle, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, from all the beasts, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest did just as Jehovah  ¹commanded Moses.

Now the booty that was left from the spoil, which the men of war had taken, was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep,

And seventy-two thousand cattle,

And sixty-one thousand donkeys,

And thirty-two thousand persons in all, the women who had not known lying with a male.

And the half which was the portion of those who went out to war was in number three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep.

And Jehovah's tribute of the sheep was six hundred seventy-five.

And the cattle were thirty-six thousand, of which Jehovah's tribute was seventy-two.

And the donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, of which Jehovah's tribute was sixty-one.

And the human beings were sixteen thousand, of whom Jehovah's tribute was thirty-two persons.

And Moses gave the tribute, Jehovah's heave offering, to Eleazar the priest, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses had separated from the men who had gone to war,

That is, the assembly's half, was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,

And thirty-six thousand cattle,

And thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,

And sixteen thousand persons —

Now Moses took from the children of Israel's half, one drawn out of every fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of Jehovah, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

And the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the captains of thousands and the captains of hundreds, approached Moses.

And they said to Moses, Your servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and not a man is missing from us;

And we have presented Jehovah's offering, what every man has obtained, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings and pendants, to make  ¹expiation for our souls before Jehovah.

And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all kinds of wrought articles.

And all the gold of the heave offering which they offered up to Jehovah, from the captains of thousands and from the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred fifty shekels.

The men of war had taken booty, each for himself.

So Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the children of Israel before Jehovah.

 ¹Now the children of Reuben and the children of Gad had a very great abundance of livestock. And when they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that the place was indeed a place for livestock,

The children of Gad and the children of Reuben came and spoke to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the assembly, saying,

Ataroth and Dibon and Jazer and Nimrah and Heshbon and Elealeh and Sebam and Nebo and Beon,

The land which Jehovah struck before the assembly of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.

And they said, If we have found favor in your sight, let this  ¹land be given to your servants for a possession; do not make us  ²cross over the Jordan.

And Moses said to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben, Shall your brothers go to war, while you stay here?

Now why would you discourage the heart of the children of Israel from crossing over into the land which Jehovah has given them?

Your fathers did this when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.

When they went up to the valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the children of Israel from going into the land which Jehovah had given them.

And Jehovah's anger was kindled in that day, and He swore, saying,

Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not fully followed Me;

Except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, because they have fully followed Jehovah.

And Jehovah's anger was kindled against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation which had done evil in the sight of Jehovah was consumed.

And now you have risen up in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to further increase the burning anger of Jehovah toward Israel.

For if you turn away from following Him, He will yet again leave them in the wilderness; and you will destroy this entire people.

And they came near to him and said, We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock and cities for our little ones;

But we ourselves will be armed and ready to go before the children of Israel until we have brought them to their place, while our little ones dwell in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.

We will not return to our houses until each one of the children of Israel has inherited his inheritance.

For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and further on, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan eastward.

And Moses said to them, If you will do this thing, if you will arm yourselves before Jehovah for battle,

And all of your armed men will cross over the Jordan before Jehovah until He has driven out His enemies from before Him,

And the land is subdued before Jehovah, then afterward you shall return and be free of  ¹obligation toward Jehovah and toward Israel; and this land shall be yours for a possession before Jehovah.

But if you will not do so, then you have sinned against Jehovah; and know that your sin will find you out.

Build for yourselves cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what has proceeded out of your mouth.

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben spoke to Moses, saying, Your servants will do as my lord commands.

Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle will be there in the cities of Gilead;

But your servants will cross over, everyone who is armed for war before Jehovah for battle, as my lord says.

So Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.

And Moses said to them, If the children of Gad and the children of Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, everyone who is armed for battle before Jehovah, and the land is subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession.

But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.

And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As Jehovah has said to your servants, so will we do.

We will cross over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance will remain with us beyond the Jordan.

And Moses gave to them, to the children of Gad and to the children of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon the king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og the king of Bashan, the land according to its cities with their territories, the cities of the surrounding land.

And the children of Gad built Dibon and Ataroth and Aroer

And Atroth-shophan and Jazer and Jogbehah

And Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran as fortified cities, and folds for sheep.

And the children of Reuben built Heshbon and Elealeh and Kiriathaim

And Nebo and Baal-meon — their names being changed — and Sibmah, and they gave other names to the cities which they built.

And the children of Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it.

And Moses gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he dwelt in it.

And Jair the son of Manasseh went and took its villages and called them  ¹Havvoth-jair.

And Nobah went and took Kenath and its towns, and called it Nobah after his own name.

These are the  ¹journeys of the children of Israel, when they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their companies under the direction of Moses and Aaron.

And Moses wrote down the places that they went out from for their journeys according to the commandment of Jehovah; and these are their journeys according to the places they went out from.

Now they journeyed from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the passover the children of Israel went out  ¹boldly in the sight of all the Egyptians,

While the Egyptians were burying those whom Jehovah had struck down among them, all their firstborn; on their gods Jehovah also executed judgments.

And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses and encamped at Succoth.

And they journeyed from Succoth and encamped at Etham, which is at the edge of the wilderness.

And they journeyed from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which faces Baal-zephon; and they encamped before Migdol.

And they journeyed from  ¹Pi-hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness, and they went three days' journey in the wilderness of Etham and encamped at Marah.

And they journeyed from Marah and came to Elim. And in Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there.

And they journeyed from Elim and encamped by the Red Sea.

And they journeyed from the Red Sea and encamped in the wilderness of Sin.

And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sin and encamped at Dophkah.

And they journeyed from Dophkah and encamped at Alush.

And they journeyed from Alush and encamped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink there.

And they journeyed from Rephidim and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.

And they journeyed from the wilderness of Sinai and encamped at Kibroth-hattaavah.

And they journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah and encamped at Hazeroth.

And they journeyed from Hazeroth and encamped at Rithmah.

And they journeyed from Rithmah and encamped at Rimmon-perez.

And they journeyed from Rimmon-perez and encamped at Libnah.

And they journeyed from Libnah and encamped at Rissah.

And they journeyed from Rissah and encamped at Kehelathah.

And they journeyed from Kehelathah and encamped at Mount Shepher.

And they journeyed from Mount Shepher and encamped at Haradah.

And they journeyed from Haradah and encamped at Makheloth.

And they journeyed from Makheloth and encamped at Tahath.

And they journeyed from Tahath and encamped at Terah.

And they journeyed from Terah and encamped at Mithkah.

And they journeyed from Mithkah and encamped at Hashmonah.

And they journeyed from Hashmonah and encamped at Moseroth.

And they journeyed from Moseroth and encamped at Bene-jaakan.

And they journeyed from Bene-jaakan and encamped at Hor-haggidgad.

And they journeyed from Hor-haggidgad and encamped at Jotbathah.

And they journeyed from Jotbathah and encamped at Abronah.

And they journeyed from Abronah and encamped at Ezion-geber.

And they journeyed from Ezion-geber and encamped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh.

And they journeyed from Kadesh and encamped in Mount Hor at the edge of the land of Edom.

And Aaron the priest went up onto Mount Hor at the commandment of Jehovah and died there in the fortieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.

And Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.

And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who was dwelling in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the children of Israel.

And they journeyed from Mount Hor and encamped at Zalmonah.

And they journeyed from Zalmonah and encamped at Punon.

And they journeyed from Punon and encamped at Oboth.

And they journeyed from Oboth and encamped at Iye-abarim on the border of Moab.

And they journeyed from Iyim and encamped at Dibon-gad.

And they journeyed from Dibon-gad and encamped in Almon-diblathaim.

And they journeyed from Almon-diblathaim and encamped in the mountains of the Abarim before Nebo.

And they journeyed from the mountains of the Abarim and encamped in the plains of Moab beside the Jordan at Jericho.

And they encamped beside the Jordan from Beth-jeshimoth as far as Abel-shittim in the plains of Moab.

Then Jehovah spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying,

Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,

You shall  ¹drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and you shall destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places;

And you shall take possession of the land and dwell in it, for to you I have given the land to possess it.

And you shall inherit the land by  ¹lot according to your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls to anyone, that shall be his. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers.

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those whom you let remain of them will become as splinters in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you are dwelling.

And just as I thought to do to them, so will I do to you.