Numbers 25:1–9

¹And Israel dwelleth in Shittim, and the people begin to go a-whoring unto daughters of Moab, ²and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat, and bow themselves to their gods, ³and Israel is joined to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel. ⁴And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah—over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.’ ⁵And Moses saith unto the judges of Israel, ‘Slay ye each his men who are joined to Baal-Peor.’

⁶And lo, a man of the sons of Israel hath come, and bringeth in unto his brethren the Midianitess, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes of all the company of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening of the tent of meeting; ⁷and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, seeth, and riseth from the midst of the company, and taketh a javelin in his hand, ⁸and goeth in after the man of Israel unto the hollow place, and pierceth them both, the man of Israel and the woman—unto her belly, and the plague is restrained from the sons of Israel; ⁹and the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand.