25 2 The people committeth fornication with the daughters of Moab. 9 Phinehas killeth Zimri and Cozbi. 11 God maketh his covenant with Phinehas. 17 God commandeth, to kill the Midianites.

Now while Israel abode in (A)Shittim, the people began to commit whoredom with the [a]daughters of Moab:

Which called the people unto the sacrifice of their gods, and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.

And Israel [b]coupled himself unto Baal of Peor: wherefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against Israel:

And the Lord said unto Moses, (B)Take all the heads of the people and hang them up [c]before the Lord [d]against the Sun, that the indignation of the Lord’s wrath may be turned from Israel.

Then Moses said unto the Judges of Israel, Everyone slay his [e]men that were joined unto Baal of Peor.

¶ And behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the Congregation of the children of Israel, [f]who wept before the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.

(C)And 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 [g]spear in his hand,

And followed the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust them both through: to wit, the man of Israel, and the woman, [h]through her belly: so the plague ceased from the children of Israel.

(D)And there died in that plague four and twenty thousand.

10 Then the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

11 (E)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, hath turned mine anger away from the children of Israel, while he [i]was zealous for my sake among them: therefore I have not consumed the children of Israel in my jealousy.

12 Wherefore say to him, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace.

13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of the Priest’s office forever, because he was zealous for his God, and hath made an [j]atonement for the children of Israel.

14 And the name of the Israelite thus slain, which was killed with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri the son of Salu, prince [k]of the family of the Simeonites.

15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain, was Cozbi the daughter of Zur, who was head over the people of his father’s house in Midian.

16 ¶ Again the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

17 (F)Vex the Midianites, and smite them:

18 For they trouble you with their [l]wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you as concerning Peor, and as concerning their sister Cozbi daughter of a prince of Midian, which was slain in the day of the plague because of Peor.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 25:1 With the women.
  2. Numbers 25:3 Worshipped the idol of the Moabites, which was in the hill Peor.
  3. Numbers 25:4 Or, to the Lord.
  4. Numbers 25:4 Openly in the sight of all.
  5. Numbers 25:5 Let him see execution done of them that are under his charge.
  6. Numbers 25:6 Repenting that they had offended God.
  7. Numbers 25:7 Or, javelin.
  8. Numbers 25:8 Or, in her tent. Chalde and Greek, in her secrets.
  9. Numbers 25:11 He was zealous to maintain my glory.
  10. Numbers 25:13 He hath pacified God’s wrath.
  11. Numbers 25:14 Hebrew, of the house of the father.
  12. Numbers 25:18 Causing you to commit both corporal and spiritual fornication by Balaam’s counsel, Num. 31:16; Rev. 2:14.

Moab Seduces Israel

25 While Israel was staying in Shittim,(A) the men began to indulge in sexual immorality(B) with Moabite(C) women,(D) who invited them to the sacrifices(E) to their gods.(F) The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to(G) the Baal of Peor.(H) And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders(I) of these people, kill them and expose(J) them in broad daylight before the Lord,(K) so that the Lord’s fierce anger(L) may turn away from Israel.”

So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death(M) those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”(N)

Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite(O) woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping(P) at the entrance to the tent of meeting. When Phinehas(Q) son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear(R) in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped;(S) but those who died in the plague(T) numbered 24,000.(U)

10 The Lord said to Moses, 11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites.(V) Since he was as zealous for my honor(W) among them as I am, I did not put an end to them in my zeal. 12 Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace(X) with him. 13 He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood,(Y) because he was zealous(Z) for the honor(AA) of his God and made atonement(AB) for the Israelites.”(AC)

14 The name of the Israelite who was killed with the Midianite woman(AD) was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family.(AE) 15 And the name of the Midianite woman who was put to death was Kozbi(AF) daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family.(AG)

16 The Lord said to Moses,(AH) 17 “Treat the Midianites(AI) as enemies(AJ) and kill them.(AK) 18 They treated you as enemies when they deceived you in the Peor incident(AL) involving their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a Midianite leader, the woman who was killed when the plague came as a result of that incident.”