Moab Seduces Israel
1While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, 2who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. 3So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.
4The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
5So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
6Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand 8and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; 9but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
10The Lord said to Moses, 11“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites. Since he was as zealous for my honor among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. 13He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”
14The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. 15And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.
16The Lord said to Moses, 17“Treat the Midianites as enemies and kill them. 18They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”
Israelitternes utroskab
1Mens israelitterne lå i lejr i Shittim,25,1 På hebraisk betyder ordet „Akacietræer”, og det er navnet på en by øst for Jordanfloden på højde med Jeriko. syndede nogle af de unge mænd ved at ligge med moabitiske piger. 2Det skete ved, at pigerne inviterede dem med til de fester, de holdt for deres afguder, og det førte til, at mændene ikke bare spiste afgudsofferkød, men deltog åbenlyst i afgudsdyrkelsen med dertil hørende utugt.
3Inden længe begyndte mange af israelitterne at dyrke moabitternes gud, Ba’al-Peor. Da sendte Herren i sin vrede en plage over folket, 4og han sagde til Moses: „Kald folkets ledere sammen og lad alle de ansvarlige blive henrettet og hængt op i solen foran mit telt, så min vrede ikke skal udslette hele folket.” 5Så gav Moses folkets ledere følgende besked: „De af jeres folk, der er begyndt at dyrke Ba’al-Peor, skal I henrette.”
6En af de israelitiske mænd var fræk nok til at tage en af de midjanitiske piger med ind i sit telt nær ved midten af lejren, hvor Moses og folket stod grædende og sørgede foran indgangen til åbenbaringsteltet. 7En ung mand ved navn Pinehas, søn af ypperstepræsten Eleazar, opdagede det, sprang op, greb et spyd 8og fulgte efter dem ind i teltet, hvor han jog spyddet gennem mandens krop og ind i pigens mave. Da standsede plagen, 9som indtil da havde kostet 24.000 mennesker livet.
10Herren sagde nu til Moses: 11„Du kan takke Pinehas for at plagen standsede, for han forstod min harme og afværgede, at min vrede gjorde yderligere indhug iblandt jer. 12-13Fordi han handlede i nidkærhed for Gud, og fordi han derved skaffede soning for Israels folk, lover jeg ham og hans efterkommere, at de altid skal være mine præster.”
14Den mand, som blev dræbt sammen med den midjanitiske pige, hed Zimri. Han var søn af Salu, som var en af lederne i Simeons stamme. 15Pigens navn var Kozbi. Hun var datter af en midjanitisk fyrste ved navn Zur.
16-17„Du skal udrydde midjanitterne,” sagde Herren til Moses, 18„for de forførte jer ved at lokke jer bort fra mig og få jer til at dyrke deres afguder i stedet. Det, der skete med Kozbi, som døde den dag, plagen brød løs på grund af Ba’al-Peor, er et eksempel på, hvad der vil ske med hele det midjanitiske folk.”
Moses afholder en ny folketælling
19Efter at plagen var standset,
