¹⁵ “Be careful that you don’t ·make an agreement [^Lcut a covenant] with the people who live in that land. When they ·worship [^Lwhore after and sacrifice to] their gods, they will invite you to join them. Then you will eat their sacrifices.

¹⁶ If you ·choose [take] some of their daughters as wives for your sons and those daughters ·worship [^Lwhore after other] gods, they will lead your sons to ·do the same thing [^Lwhore after their gods].

Israel Worships Baal at Peor

25 While the people of Israel were still camped at ·Acacia [^LShittim], the men began ·sinning sexually [to prostitute themselves] with Moabite women [^Con the advice of Balaam who found another way to get his money; 31:16]. ² The women invited them to their sacrifices to their gods, and the ·Israelites [^Lpeople] ate food there and worshiped these gods. ³ So the Israelites ·began to worship [^Lyoked themselves to] Baal of Peor, and the Lord was very angry with them.

⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Get all the leaders of the people and ·kill [impale] them in open daylight in the presence of the Lord. Then the Lord will not be angry with the people of Israel.”

⁵ So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must ·put to death [kill] your people who have become ·worshipers of [^Lyoked to] Baal of Peor.”

⁶ Moses and the Israelites were gathered at the entrance to the Meeting Tent, crying there. Then an ·Israelite man [^Lman of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] brought a Midianite woman to his ·brothers [family] in plain sight of Moses and all the ·people [community; congregation; assembly]. ⁷ Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, so he ·left the meeting [^Lrose up from the community/congregation/assembly] and ·got [^Ltook in his hand] his spear. ⁸ He followed the Israelite into his ·tent [vaulted/newlywed tent] and drove his spear through the belly of both the Israelite man and the Midianite woman [^Cwhile they were embracing]. Then the ·terrible sickness [plague] among the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] stopped.

⁵ The people of Israel lived with the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶ The Israelites ·began to marry [^Ltook as wives] the daughters of those people, and they ·allowed their daughters to marry [^Lgave their daughters to] the sons of those people. Israel also served their gods.

Othniel, the First Judge

⁷ The ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] did ·what the Lord said was wrong [^Levil in the eyes/sight of the Lord]. They forgot about the Lord their God and served the ·idols of Baal [^LBaals; 2:11] and ·Asherah [^LAsherahs; ^Csacred trees or poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah; Deut. 16:21; Judg. 6:25].

²⁰ “But I have this against you: You ·let that woman Jezebel spread false teachings [^Ltolerate the woman Jezebel; ^Cprobably the leader of the Nicolaitans, here given the name of the notorious Baal-worshiping queen; 1 Kin. 16:31–34; 21:25–26; 2 Kin. 9:22]. She ·says she is [calls herself] a prophetess, but ·by her teaching she leads [teaches and misleads/deceives] my ·people [^Lservants] to take part in sexual sins and to eat food that is offered to idols.