Numbers 25
1 Israel stayed in Shittim, and the men began to prostitute themselves with women of Moab,
2 for the Moabites had invited the people to the sacrifices to their gods. So the people ate and bowed down to Moabite gods.
3 The men of Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and Yahweh's anger was kindled against Israel.
4 Yahweh said to Moses, “Kill all the leaders of the people and hang them up before me to expose them in the daylight, so that my fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
5 So Moses said to Israel's leaders, “Each of you must execute his people who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.”
6 Then one of the men of Israel came and brought among his family members a Midianite woman. This happened in the sight of Moses and all the community of the people of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw that, he rose up from among the community and took a spear in his hand.
8 He followed the Israelite man into the tent and thrust the spear through both of their bodies, both the Israelite man and the woman. So a plague that God had sent on the people of Israel stopped.
9 Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.
10 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned my rage away from the people of Israel because he was passionate with my zeal among them. So I have not consumed the people of Israel in my fierceness.
12 Therefore say, 'Yahweh says, “Look, I am giving to Phinehas my covenant of peace.
13 For him and his descendants after him, it will be a covenant of an everlasting priesthood because he was zealous for me, his God. He has atoned for the people of Israel.”'”
14 Now the name of the Israelite man who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of an ancestor's family among the Simeonites.
15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Kozbi daughter of Zur, who was head of a tribe and family in Midian.
16 So Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
17 “Treat the Midianites as enemies and attack them,
18 for they treated you like enemies with their deceitfulness. They led you into evil in the case of Peor and in the case of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a leader in Midian, who was killed on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”
Cross-references
104
- 11Co 10:8, Jos 2:1, Num 33:49, Mic 6:5, Rev 2:14, Jos 3:1, Num 31:15–16, Ecc 7:26
- 21Co 10:20, Exo 20:5, Exo 34:15–16, Psa 106:28, Hos 9:10, Rev 2:14, Jos 22:17, 1Ki 11:1–8
- 3Hos 9:10, Psa 106:28–29, Jos 22:17, Jer 17:4, Psa 90:11, Deu 4:3–4, Jdg 2:14, Jdg 2:20
- 4Deu 13:17, Deu 4:3, 2Sa 21:6, Deu 21:23, Num 25:11, Jon 3:9, Jos 23:2, Num 25:14–15
- 5Exo 18:21, 1Ki 18:40, Deu 13:13, Exo 32:27–28, Deu 13:15, Deu 17:3–5, Deu 13:6, Deu 13:9
- 6Jol 2:17, Num 22:4, Jer 36:23, Jer 43:4–7, Jud 1:13, Jdg 2:4, Num 31:9–16, Jer 3:3
- 7Exo 6:25, Psa 106:30, 1Sa 19:9, Jos 22:30–31, 1Sa 18:10–11, Jdg 20:28
- 8Num 16:46–48, Psa 106:29–31, Num 25:5, Num 25:11, 2Sa 24:25, 1Ch 21:22
- 91Co 10:8, Num 25:4–5, Deu 4:3–4, Num 31:16, Num 16:49–50, Num 14:37
- 11Psa 78:58, Deu 32:21, Deu 32:16, 1Ki 14:22, 2Co 11:2, 1Co 10:22, Zep 1:18, Zep 3:8
- 12Mal 2:4–5, Mal 3:1, Isa 54:10, Num 13:29, Ezk 34:25
- 13Heb 2:17, Psa 106:31, Jer 33:18, Exo 40:15, Jer 33:22, 1Ch 6:4–15, 1Pe 2:5, Rom 10:2–4
- 14Num 1:23, 2Ch 19:7, Num 26:14, Num 25:4–5
- 15Num 31:8, Jos 13:21, Num 25:18
- 17Rev 18:6, Num 31:1–3
- 18Rev 2:14, 2Co 11:3, Gen 3:13, Exo 32:35, Gen 26:10, Exo 32:21, Num 31:15–16, 2Pe 2:14–15
Topics in this chapter
22
Anger, Baal-Peor, Covenant, Cozbi, Dart, Decision, Fear, Fellowship, Idolatry, Israel, Jealousy, Judgments, Midianites, Miscegenation, Moabites, Phinehas, Shittim, Tabernacle, Women, Zeal, Religious, Zimri, Zur