Numbers 25:1–9

Israel’s Harlotry in Moab

25Now Israel remained in ^aAcacia Grove, ¹and the ^bpeople began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab. ^2cThey invited the people to ^dthe sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and ^ebowed down to their gods. ³So Israel was joined to Baal of Peor, and ^fthe anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel.

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^g“Take all the leaders of the people and hang the offenders before the Lord, out in the sun, ^hthat the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.”

⁵So Moses said to ⁱthe judges of Israel, ^j“Every one of you kill his men who were joined to Baal of Peor.”

⁶And indeed, one of the children of Israel came and presented to his brethren a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, ^kwho were weeping at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. ⁷Now ^lwhen Phinehas ^mthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So ⁿthe plague was ^ostopped among the children of Israel. ⁹And ^pthose who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.