1And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. 2And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods. 3And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. 4And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. 5And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.
6¶ And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 7And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up 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 belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. 9And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.
10¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 11Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.25.11 for…: Heb. with my zeal 12Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: 13And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. 14Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites.25.14 chief…: Heb. house of a father 15And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.
16¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 17Vex the Midianites, and smite them: 18For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor’s sake.
Moab Leads Israel Astray
1Israel was staying in Shittim. The men of Israel began to commit sexual sins with the women of Moab. 2The women invited the men to feasts and sacrifices to honor their gods. The people ate the sacrifices and bowed down in front of the statues of those gods. 3So Israel joined in worshiping the god named Baal that was worshiped at Peor. The Lord became very angry with Israel.
4The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people. Kill them. Put their dead bodies out in the open. I want to see you do it in the middle of the day. Then I will not be angry with Israel.”
5So Moses spoke to Israel’s judges. He said, “Some of your people have joined in worshiping the god named Baal that is worshiped at Peor. Each of you must kill the people in your tribe who have done that.”
6Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman. He did it right in front of the eyes of Moses and the whole community of Israel. They were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7Phinehas was a priest. He was the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. When Phinehas saw what had happened, he left the people. He took a spear in his hand. 8He followed the man into the tent. Phinehas stuck the spear through the man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the Lord stopped the plague against the Israelites. 9But the plague had already killed 24,000 of them.
10The Lord said to Moses, 11“Phinehas is a priest. He is the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron. Phinehas has turned my anger away from the Israelites. I am committed to making sure I am honored among them. And he is as committed as I am. So even though I was angry with them, I did not put an end to them. 12So tell Phinehas I am making my covenant with him. It is my promise to give him peace. 13He and his sons after him will have a covenant to be priests forever. That is because he was committed to making sure that I, his God, was honored. In that way he paid for the sin of the Israelites.”
14The name of the Israelite man who was killed was Zimri. He was the son of Salu. Zimri was killed along with the Midianite woman. Salu was a family leader in the tribe of Simeon. 15The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Kozbi. She was the daughter of Zur. He was the chief of a Midianite family.
16The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 17“Treat the Midianites just as you would treat enemies. Kill them. 18After all, they treated you like enemies. They tricked you into worshiping the god named Baal that is worshiped at Peor. They also tricked you because of what Kozbi did. She was the woman killed when the plague came that was connected with Peor. Kozbi was the daughter of a Midianite leader.”
