The Sin of Peor

25 While Israel remained at ^(A)Shittim, the people began ^(B)to commit infidelity with the daughters of Moab. ² For ^(C)they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. ³ So ^(D)Israel ^[a]became followers of ^[b]Baal of Peor, and the Lord was angry with Israel. ⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and ^[c]execute them ^[d]in broad daylight before the Lord, ^(E)so that the fierce anger of the Lord may turn away from Israel.” ⁵ So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you ^(F)kill his men who have ^[e]become followers of ^[f]Baal of Peor.”

⁶ Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a ^(G)Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ^(H)while they were weeping at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ^7 (I)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. ^(J)So the plague on the sons of Israel was brought to a halt. ^9 (K)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 “^(L)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has averted My wrath from the sons of Israel in that he was ^[g]jealous with My ^[h]jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the sons of Israel ^(M)in My ^[i]jealousy. ¹² Therefore say, ‘^(N)Behold, I am giving him My ^(O)covenant of peace; ¹³ and it shall be for him and for his ^[j]descendants after him, a covenant of a ^(P)permanent priesthood, because he was ^[k]jealous for his God and ^(Q)made atonement for the sons of Israel.’”

¹⁴ Now the name of the ^[l]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 ^(R)Cozbi the daughter of ^(S)Zur, ^[m]who was head of the people of a father’s household in Midian.

¹⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁷ “^(T)Be hostile to the Midianites and attack them; ¹⁸ for they have been hostile to you with their tricks, with which they have deceived you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of the leader of Midian, their sister who was killed on the day of the plague because of Peor.”

Contrast of the Upright and the Wicked

Peter’s Denials

^66 (A)And while Peter was below in ^(B)the courtyard, one of the slave women of the high priest *came, ⁶⁷ and seeing Peter ^(C)warming himself, she looked at him and *said, “You were with Jesus the ^(D)Nazarene as well.” ⁶⁸ But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he ^(E)went out onto the ^[a]porch.^{[b] 69} The slave woman saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them!” ⁷⁰ But again ^(F)he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “You really are one of them, ^(G)for you are a Galilean as well.” ⁷¹ But he began to ^[c]curse himself and to swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” ⁷² And immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before ^(H)a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And ^[d]he hurried on and began to weep.