Numbers 25

1 And Israel dwells in Shittim, and the people begin to go whoring to daughters of Moab,

Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab:

2 and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat and bow themselves to their gods,

For they sent for the people to be present at the offerings made to their gods; and the people took part in their feasts and gave honour to their gods.

3 and Israel is joined to Ba‘al-Peor, and the anger of YHWH burns against Israel.

So Israel had relations with the women of Moab in honour of the Baal of Peor: and the Lord was moved to wrath against Israel.

4 And YHWH says to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them before YHWH in sight of the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of YHWH turns back from Israel.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, Take all the chiefs of the people, hanging them up in the sun before the Lord, so that the wrath of the Lord may be turned from Israel.

5 And Moses says to [the] judges of Israel, “Each slays his men who are joined to Ba‘al-Peor.”

So Moses said to the judges of Israel, Let everyone put to death those of his men who have had relations with the women of Moab in honour of the Baal of Peor.

6 And behold, a man of the sons of Israel has come, and brings a Midianitess to his brothers before the eyes of Moses and before the eyes of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening of the Tent of Meeting;

Then one of the children of Israel came to his brothers, taking with him a woman of Midian, before the eyes of Moses and all the meeting of the people, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of meeting.

7 and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, sees, and rises from the midst of the congregation, and takes a javelin in his hand,

And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, seeing it, got up from among the people and took a spear in his hand,

8 and goes in after the man of Israel to the hollow place, and pierces them both, the man of Israel and the woman—to her belly, and the plague is restrained from the sons of Israel;

And went after the man of Israel into the tent, driving the spear through the two of them, through the man of Israel and through the stomach of the woman. So the disease was stopped among the children of Israel.

9 and the dead by the plague are twenty-four thousand.

But twenty-four thousand of them had come to their death by the disease.

10 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord said to Moses,

11 “Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back My fury from the sons of Israel by his being zealous with My zeal in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in My zeal.

Through Phinehas, and because of his passion for my honour, my wrath has been turned away from the children of Israel, so that I have not sent destruction on them all in my wrath.

12 Therefore say, Behold, I am giving My covenant of peace to him,

So say to them that I will make with him an agreement of peace:

13 and it has been to him and to his seed after him [for] a covenant of a continuous priesthood, because that he has been zealous for his God, and makes atonement for the sons of Israel.”

And by this agreement, he and his sons after him have the right to be priests for ever; because, by his care for the honour of his God, he took away the sin of the children of Israel.

14 And the name of the man of Israel who is struck, who has been struck with the Midianitess, [is] Zimri son of Salu, prince of the house of a father of the Simeonite;

Now the man of Israel who was put to death with the woman of Midian was Zimri, the son of Salu, a chief of one of the families of the Simeonites.

15 and the name of the woman who is struck, the Midianitess, [is] Cozbi daughter of Zur; he [is] head of peoples of a father’s house in Midian.

And the woman of Midian who was put to death was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was the head of a family in Midian.

16 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

Then the Lord said to Moses,

17 “Distress the Midianites, and you have struck them,

Take up arms against the Midianites and overcome them;

18 for they are adversaries to you with their frauds, [with] which they have acted fraudulently to you, concerning the matter of Peor and concerning the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who is struck in the day of the plague for the matter of Peor.”

For they are a danger to you with their false ways, causing sin to come on you in the question of Peor, and because of Cozbi, their sister, the daughter of the chief of Midian, who was put to death at the time of the disease which came on you because of Peor.