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When Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from the middle of the congregation, and took a spear in his hand. He went after the man of Israel into the pavilion, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her body. So the plague was stopped among the children of Israel. Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 11 “Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I didn’t consume the children of Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore say, ‘Behold, I give to him my covenant of peace. 13 It shall be to him, and to his offspring after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.’”

14 Now the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianite woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a fathers’ house among the Simeonites. 15 The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.

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When Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up from the middle of the community, grabbed a javelin in his hand, followed the Israeli man inside his tent,[a] and impaled the two of them—the Israeli man and the woman—right through both of them and into her abdomen. Then the plague infecting the Israelis was brought to a halt. Nevertheless, 24,000 people died because of the plague.

God Commends Phinehas

10 The Lord told Moses, 11 “Eleazar’s son Phinehas, grandson of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from Israel. Because his zealousness reflected my own zeal for them, I didn’t consume Israel in my jealousy. 12 Therefore, I’m certainly going to be giving him my covenant of peace, 13 for him and for his descendants after him, too, a covenant of perpetual priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelis.”

14 Now the name of the Israeli man who was slain, along with the Midianite woman, was Salu’s son Zimri, a leader from the tribe of Simeon. 15 The woman who was slain, that is, the Midianite woman, was named Cozbi. She was the daughter of Zur, a leader[b] of one of the ancestral houses of Midian.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 25:8 Or inner part of the tent
  2. Numbers 25:15 Lit. head