The Ten Commandments^(A)

20 And God spoke^(B) all these words:^(C)

²⁰ “Whoever sacrifices to any god^(A) other than the Lord must be destroyed.^[a](B)

¹³ “Be careful^(A) to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods;^(B) do not let them be heard on your lips.^(C)

²⁴ Do not bow down before their gods or worship^(A) them or follow their practices.^(B) You must demolish^(C) them and break their sacred stones^(D) to pieces.

³² Do not make a covenant^(A) with them or with their gods. ³³ Do not let them live in your land or they will cause you to sin against me, because the worship of their gods will certainly be a snare^(B) to you.”

24 Now when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel,^(A) he did not resort to divination^(B) as at other times, but turned his face toward the wilderness.^{(C) 2} When Balaam looked out and saw Israel encamped tribe by tribe, the Spirit of God came on him^{(D) 3} and he spoke his message:

Moab Seduces Israel

25 While Israel was staying in Shittim,^(A) the men began to indulge in sexual immorality^(B) with Moabite^(C) women,^{(D) 2} who invited them to the sacrifices^(E) to their gods.^(F) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to^(G) the Baal of Peor.^(H) And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders^(I) of these people, kill them and expose^(J) them in broad daylight before the Lord,^(K) so that the Lord’s fierce anger^(L) may turn away from Israel.”

⁵ So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death^(M) those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”^(N)

³¹ You must not worship the Lord your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the Lord hates.^(A) They even burn their sons^(B) and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.^(C)