⁶ Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a ^(A)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ^(B)while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^7 (C)When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the inner room of the tent and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the abdomen. ^(D)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. ^9 (E)But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “^(F)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was ^[a]jealous with My ^[b]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel ^(G)in My ^[c]jealousy.