Numbers 25
The Voice
25 Now it happened that while Israel was biding its time at Shittim, on the edge of the wilderness near Jericho, some of the men got mixed up with Moabite women. They got friendly and had sexual relations. 2 The Moabites invited these Israelites to participate in Moabite religious rituals and worship of their gods, 3 and God’s people bound themselves to the deity Baal of Peor, which made the Eternal One furious at Israel.
Eternal One (to Moses): 4 Grab them! Every wicked leader of this people. Then in broad daylight, in front of the Eternal, string them up on stakes to twist and turn so that My burning rage doesn’t consume the entire population.
Moses (to the Israelite judges): 5 Look to your people, and kill whoever pledged himself to the deity Baal of Peor.
6 Just then, even as people were dying right and left, one Israelite returned from among the Midianites with a woman whom he planned to make a part of his family. With her in tow, he walked right past Moses and everybody else while they were mourning in front of the congregation tent. 7 When Priest Aaron’s grandson Phinehas (Eleazar’s son) saw them, he took a spear in his hand. 8 He charged into the Israelite’s tent and ran the spear straight through the bellies of the couple. That one act appeased God’s anger and put an end to the death cascading through the Israelite camp. 9 Nevertheless, 24,000 people died before it was all over.
10 The Eternal One explained to Moses what had happened.
It is difficult in our age of diversity, tolerance, and equality to accept the prohibition of intermarriage between the Israelites and the peoples of the land and the command to eliminate the natives as the Israelites later occupy the land. Now this is not a command about ethnicity or purity of race; it is about shared purpose and complete devotion. The people cannot tolerate devotion to other deities and still serve the Lord. It is for their protection and well-being that God aggressively punishes those who pollute the faith.
Eternal One: 11 Phinehas (Eleazar’s son and Priest Aaron’s grandson) has done well. He saved the Israelites. Because he was so zealous on My account, tolerating no compromise, I did not consume the people of Israel with My jealousy. 12 So I want you to declare this: “I, your God, do pledge to Phinehas a covenant of peace, 13 not only for him but for his descendants too. I promise they will always be priests because in his jealousy for Me, Phinehas covered the wickedness of the Israelites.”
14 For the record, the Israelite man killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri (son of Salu, a leader of the Simeonite extended family). 15 The Midianite woman’s name was Cozbi. She was Zur’s daughter, and Zur was the leader of one of the extended families in Midian.
16 The Eternal One spoke to Moses.
Eternal One: 17 It’s time to go after the Midianites. Frustrate them, and crush them; 18 after all, they frustrated you by luring you into that Peor affair, including the business with Cozbi, who was killed to stop My punishing destruction from the plague, also because of that Peor affair. She was a Midianite leader’s daughter.
Numbers 25
GOD’S WORD Translation
Israel Commits Idolatry
25 While Israel was staying at Shittim, the men began to have sex with Moabite women 2 who invited the people to the sacrifices offered to their gods. The people ate the meat from the sacrifices and worshiped these gods. 3 Since the Israelites joined in worshiping the god Baal of Peor, the Lord became angry with Israel.
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people, and execute them in broad daylight in the Lord’s presence. This will turn the Lord’s anger away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill the men who have joined in worshiping the god Baal of Peor.”
6 One of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman to his brothers. He did this right in front of Moses and the whole community of Israel while they were crying at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 7 Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, saw this. So he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand, 8 and went into the tent after the Israelite man. He drove the spear through the man and into the woman’s body. Because of this, the plague that the Israelites were experiencing stopped. 9 However, 24,000 people died from that plague.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas, son of Eleazar and grandson of the priest Aaron, turned my fury away from the Israelites. Since he stood up for me, I didn’t have to stand up for myself and destroy them. 12 So tell Phinehas that I’m making a promise of peace to him. 13 My promise is that he and his descendants will be priests permanently because he stood up for his God and he made peace with the Lord for the Israelites.”
14 The name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri, son of Salu. (Salu was the leader of a family from Simeon.) 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi, daughter of Zur. (Zur was the head of a family from the Midianite tribes.)
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 “Treat the Midianites as your enemies, and kill them 18 because they treated you as enemies. They plotted to trick you in the incident that took place at Peor. They used their sister Cozbi, daughter of a Midianite leader, who was killed on the day of the plague caused by the incident at Peor.”
民數記 25
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
以色列人被誘犯罪
25 以色列人駐紮在什亭期間，有些人與摩押女子行淫。 2 那些女子邀他們參加祭祀，他們吃了祭物，並跪拜她們的神明， 3 結果使以色列與巴力·毗珥苟合。耶和華大怒， 4 對摩西說：「把為首的人都抓起來，當著我的面在大白天處死他們，以消除我對以色列人的怒氣。」 5 於是，摩西對以色列的審判官說：「你們各自把權下與巴力·毗珥苟合的人處死。」
6 摩西和以色列全體會眾正在會幕門口痛哭的時候，有個以色列人當著他們的面把一個米甸女子帶進自家的帳篷。 7 亞倫祭司的孫子、以利亞撒的兒子非尼哈看見了，便起身離開會眾，拿著矛槍， 8 跟著進入那人的帳篷，一槍刺透那對男女的腹部。以色列人當中的瘟疫馬上止住了， 9 但已有兩萬四千人死於瘟疫。
10 耶和華對摩西說： 11 「亞倫祭司的孫子、以利亞撒的兒子非尼哈消了我對以色列人的怒氣。因為在會眾中他與我一樣痛恨不貞，我才沒有在烈怒中消滅他們。 12 你告訴他，我要賜給他平安的約， 13 使他和他的後代憑此約可以永遠做祭司，因為他為我除掉了不貞之人，為以色列人贖了罪。」
14 與米甸女子一同被殺的以色列人名叫心利，是撒路的兒子，是西緬支派的一個族長。 15 被殺的米甸女子名叫哥斯比，她父親蘇珥是米甸人的一個族長。 16 耶和華對摩西說： 17 「你要攻打米甸人，擊殺他們。 18 因為他們心存敵意，在毗珥陷害你們，他們的姊妹——米甸首領的女兒哥斯比誘惑你們，她在毗珥事件招來瘟疫之日被殺。」
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.