Baal Worship at Peor

25 While Israel lived in ^(A)Shittim, ^(B)the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. ^2 (C)These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel. ⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(D)“Take all the chiefs of the people and ^(E)hang^[a] them in the sun before the Lord, ^(F)that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” ⁵ And Moses said to ^(G)the judges of Israel, ^(H)“Each of you kill those of his men who have yoked themselves to Baal of Peor.”

⁶ And behold, one of the people of Israel came and brought a Midianite woman to his family, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the people of Israel, while they were ^(I)weeping in the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^7 (J)When Phinehas ^(K)the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose and left the congregation and took a spear in his hand ⁸ and went after the man of Israel into the chamber and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. Thus the plague on the people of Israel was stopped. ⁹ Nevertheless, ^(L)those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹¹ “Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the people of Israel, in that he ^(M)was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I did not consume the people of Israel in ^(N)my jealousy. ¹² Therefore say, ^(O)‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace, ¹³ and it shall be to him and to ^(P)his descendants after him the covenant of ^(Q)a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people of Israel.’”

¹⁴ The name of the slain man of Israel, who was killed with the Midianite woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, chief of a father's house belonging to the Simeonites. ¹⁵ And the name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi the daughter of ^(R)Zur, who was the tribal head of a father's house in Midian.

¹⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^17 (S)“Harass the Midianites and strike them down, ¹⁸ for they have harassed you with their ^(T)wiles, with which they beguiled you in the matter of ^(U)Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the chief of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague on account of Peor.”

The Daughters of Zelophehad

27 Then drew near the daughters of ^(A)Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ² And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, ³ “Our father ^(B)died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord ^(C)in the company of Korah, but ^(D)died for his own sin. And he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? ^(E)Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.”

⁵ Moses ^(F)brought their case before the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ⁷ “The daughters of Zelophehad ^(G)are right. ^(H)You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. ⁸ And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers. ¹¹ And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest ^(I)kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel ^(J)a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into ^(K)this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. ¹³ When you have seen it, you also ^(L)shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ^14 (M)because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing ^(N)to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are ^(O)the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) ¹⁵ Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶ “Let the Lord, ^(P)the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation ¹⁷ who ^(Q)shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^(R)as sheep that have no shepherd.” ¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take ^(S)Joshua the son of Nun, a man ^(T)in whom is the Spirit, and ^(U)lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall ^(V)commission him in their sight. ²⁰ You shall invest him with some of your authority, ^(W)that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. ²¹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him ^(X)by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” ²² And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, ²³ and he laid his hands on him and ^(Y)commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.