Numbers 25
Legacy Standard Bible
Israel Sacrifices to Baal
25 And Israel remained at (A)Shittim, and the people began (B)to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. 2 Indeed (C)they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3 So (D)Israel joined themselves to [a]Baal of Peor, and the anger of Yahweh burned against Israel. 4 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Take all who are the heads of the people and execute them [b]in broad daylight before Yahweh, (E)so that the burning anger of Yahweh may turn away from Israel.” 5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you (F)kill his men who have joined themselves to [c]Baal of Peor.”
6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought near to his brothers a (G)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, (H)while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting. 7 (I)And Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, so he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, 8 and he went after the man of Israel into the [d]tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the [e]body. (J)Then the plague on the sons of Israel was checked. 9 (K)So those who died by the plague were 24,000.
The Jealousy of Phinehas
10 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “(L)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned away My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the sons of Israel (M)in My jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘(N)Behold, I give him My (O)covenant of peace; 13 and it shall be for him and his seed after him, a covenant of a (P)perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and (Q)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”
14 Now the name of the [f]slain man of Israel who was [g]slain 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 struck down, was (R)Cozbi the daughter of (S)Zur, [h]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.
16 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 17 “(T)Be hostile to the Midianites and strike them, 18 for they have been hostile to you with their deceptive tricks, with which they have deceived you in the affair of Peor and in the affair of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was slain on the day of the plague because of Peor.”
Footnotes
- Numbers 25:3 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:4 Lit in front of the sun
- Numbers 25:5 Or Baal-peor
- Numbers 25:8 Or inner rooms
- Numbers 25:8 Or belly
- Numbers 25:14 Lit smitten
- Numbers 25:14 Lit smitten
- 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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