14. Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders over a thousand men, and those over a hundred men, who returned from war.
15. He asked them, “Why did you let the women live?
16. They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice and turned the Israelites from the Lord at Peor. Then a terrible sickness struck the Lord’s people.
17. Kill all the Midianite boys, and kill all the Midianite women who have had sexual relations.
18. But save for yourselves the girls who have not had sexual relations with a man.
19. “All you men who killed anyone or touched a dead body must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third and seventh days you and your captives must make yourselves clean.
20. You must clean all your clothes and anything made of leather, goat hair, or wood.”
21. Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone to war, “These are the teachings that the Lord gave to Moses: