²⁰ And Phinehas son of Eleazar was chief over them in former times; the Lord was with him.^(A)

⁹ “The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him^{(A) 10} and rescued him from all his afflictions and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.^(B)

¹⁸ One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a warrior, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him.”^(A)

⁶ Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest,^[a] with the vessels of the sanctuary and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.^(A)

⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he got up and left the congregation. Taking a spear in his hand,^{(A) 8} he went after the Israelite man into the tent and pierced the two of them, the Israelite and the woman, through the belly. So the plague was stopped among the Israelites. ⁹ Nevertheless those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.^(B)

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the Israelites by manifesting such zeal among them on my behalf that in my jealousy I did not consume the Israelites.^{(C) 12} Therefore say, ‘I hereby grant him my covenant of peace.^{(D) 13} It shall be for him and for his descendants after him a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’ ”^(E)

³³ This is the service of the clans of the Merarites, the whole of their service relating to the tent of meeting, under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”^(A)

²⁸ This is the service of the clans of the Gershonites relating to the tent of meeting, and their duties are to be under the oversight of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

¹⁶ “Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle and all that is in it, in the sanctuary and in its utensils.”^(A)

³² Eleazar son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the leaders of the Levites and to have oversight of those who performed the duties of the sanctuary.