Numbers 25

CHAPTER 25

Israel Sacrifices to Baal

¹And Israel remained at ^aShittim, and the people began ^bto play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.

²Indeed ^athey called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

³So ^aIsrael joined themselves to ¹Baal of Peor, and the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel.

⁴And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all who are the heads of the people and execute them ¹in broad daylight before Yahweh, ^aso that the burning anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you ^akill his men who have joined themselves to ¹Baal of Peor.”

⁶Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought near to his brothers a ^aMidianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ^bwhile they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.

^7aAnd Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, so he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand,

⁸and he went after the man of Israel into the ¹tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the ²body. ^aThen the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.

^9aSo those who died by the plague were 24,000.

The Jealousy of Phinehas

¹⁰Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹“^aPhinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel ^bin My jealousy.

¹²“Therefore say, ‘^aBehold, I give him My ^bcovenant of peace;

¹³and it shall be for him and his seed after him, a covenant of a ^aperpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and ^bmade atonement for the sons of Israel.’”

¹⁴Now the name of the ¹slain man of Israel who was ²slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites.

¹⁵And the name of the Midianite woman, who was struck down, was ^aCozbi the daughter of ^bZur, ¹who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.

¹⁶Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹⁷“^aBe hostile to the Midianites and strike them,

¹⁸for they have been hostile to you with their deceptive tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”