Numbers 25
New American Standard Bible
The Sin of Peor
25 While Israel remained at (A)Shittim, the people began (B)to commit infidelity with the daughters of Moab. 2 For (C)they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So (D)Israel [a]became followers of [b]Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry with Israel. 4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and [c]execute them [d]in broad daylight before the Lord, (E)so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you (F)kill his men who have [e]become followers of [f]Baal of Peor.”
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a (G)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, (H)while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 7 (I)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. (J)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. 9 (K)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 “(L)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was [g]jealous with My [h]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel (M)in My [i]jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘(N)Behold, I am giving him My (O)covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and for his [j]descendants after him, a covenant of a (P)permanent priesthood, because he was [k]jealous for his God and (Q)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
14 Now the name of the [l]dead man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, a leader of a father’s household among the Simeonites. 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was (R)Cozbi the daughter of (S)Zur, [m]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.
16 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “(T)Be hostile to the Midianites and attack them; 18 for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was killed on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 25:3 Lit bound themselves to
- Numbers 25:3 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:4 Lit display them (dead) with broken limbs
- Numbers 25:4 Lit in front of the sun
- Numbers 25:5 Lit bound themselves to
- Numbers 25:5 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly zealous; i.e., impassioned
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly anger
- Numbers 25:11 Or possibly anger
- Numbers 25:13 Lit seed
- Numbers 25:13 Or possibly zealous; i.e., impassioned
- Numbers 25:14 Lit killed
- Numbers 25:15 Lit he
Numbers 25
New Living Translation
Moab Seduces Israel
25 While the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove,[a] some of the men defiled themselves by having[b] sexual relations with local Moabite women. 2 These women invited them to attend sacrifices to their gods, so the Israelites feasted with them and worshiped the gods of Moab. 3 In this way, Israel joined in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the Lord’s anger to blaze against his people.
4 The Lord issued the following command to Moses: “Seize all the ringleaders and execute them before the Lord in broad daylight, so his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel.”
5 So Moses ordered Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death the men under your authority who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
6 Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman into his tent, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as everyone was weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle.[c] 7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the assembly. He took a spear 8 and rushed after the man into his tent. Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man’s body and into the woman’s stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, 9 but not before 24,000 people had died.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest has turned my anger away from the Israelites by being as zealous among them as I was. So I stopped destroying all Israel as I had intended to do in my zealous anger. 12 Now tell him that I am making my special covenant of peace with him. 13 In this covenant, I give him and his descendants a permanent right to the priesthood, for in his zeal for me, his God, he purified the people of Israel, making them right with me.[d]”
14 The Israelite man killed with the Midianite woman was named Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a family from the tribe of Simeon. 15 The woman’s name was Cozbi; she was the daughter of Zur, the leader of a Midianite clan.
16 Then the Lord said to Moses, 17 “Attack the Midianites and destroy them, 18 because they assaulted you with deceit and tricked you into worshiping Baal of Peor, and because of Cozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed at the time of the plague because of what happened at Peor.”
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Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
