Numbers 25

Israel Joins Baal of Peor

1Israel stayed at Shittim, and the people began to prostitute themselves with the daughters of Moab. 2They invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3Israel joined itself to Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against Israel. 4The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them before the LORD in the sun, so that the burning anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.” 5So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you kill your men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor.”

Phinehas Stops the Plague

6And look—one of the Israelites came and brought a Midianite woman to his brothers before the eyes of Moses and the whole congregation of the Israelites while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. 7When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand. 8He went after the Israelite man into the inner chamber and pierced both of them, the Israelite man and the woman through her body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped. 9Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

A Covenant of Peace with Phinehas

10The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 11“Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the Israelites by being zealous with my zeal among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal. 12Therefore say: Look, I am giving him my covenant of peace. 13It shall be for him and for his offspring after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

The Man and Woman Identified

14The name of the Israelite man who was struck down with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of an ancestral house among the Simeonites. 15The name of the Midianite woman who was struck down was Cozbi daughter of Zur, who was head of a people, an ancestral house in Midian.

Hostility Toward Midian

16The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 17“Treat the Midianites as enemies and strike them, 18for they have treated you as enemies with their schemes by which they deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, their sister, daughter of a leader of Midian, who was struck down on the day of the plague because of Peor.”