Numbers 25:5-16

New American Standard Bible

⁵ So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you ^(A)kill his men who have ^[a]become followers of ^[b]Baal of Peor.”

⁶ Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a ^(B)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ^(C)while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^7 (D)When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand, ⁸ and he went after the man of Israel into the inner room of the tent and pierced both of them, the man of Israel and the woman, through the abdomen. ^(E)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. ^9 (F)But those who died from the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.

The Zeal of Phinehas

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹¹ “^(G)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was ^[c]jealous with My ^[d]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel ^(H)in My ^[e]jealousy. ¹² Therefore say, ‘^(I)Behold, I am giving him My ^(J)covenant of peace; ¹³ and it shall be for him and for his ^[f]descendants after him, a covenant of a ^(K)permanent priesthood, because he was ^[g]jealous for his God and ^(L)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”

¹⁴ Now the name of the ^[h]dead man of Israel who was killed 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 killed was ^(M)Cozbi the daughter of ^(N)Zur, ^[i]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,