Numbers 25:3-5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
3 Israel thereby attached itself to the Baal of Peor,(A) and the Lord’s anger flared up against Israel. 4 (B)The Lord said to Moses: Gather all the leaders of the people, and publicly execute them[a] before the Lord, that the blazing wrath of the Lord may turn away from Israel. 5 So Moses told the Israelite judges, “Each of you kill those of his men who have attached themselves to the Baal of Peor.”[b]
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- 25:4 Publicly execute them: the same phrase occurs in 2 Sm 21:6–14, where the context shows that at least a part of the penalty consisted in being denied honorable burial. In both passages, dismemberment or impalement (perhaps subsequent to the actual execution) as a punishment for the breaking of covenant pledges, is a possible interpretation of the Hebrew phrase.
- 25:5 Thereby Moses apparently alters the Lord’s command to execute all the leaders.
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