Numbers 25

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

And Israel at that time abode in Settim, and the people committed fornication 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,

Who called them to their sacrifices. And they ate of them, and adored their gods.

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

And Israel was initiated to Beelphegor: upon which the Lord being angry,

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.”

Said to Moses: Take all the princes of the people, and hang them up on gibbets against the sun: that my fury may be turned away from Israel.

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

And Moses said to the judges of Israel: Let every man kill his neighbours, that have been initiated to Beelphegor.

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;

And behold one of the children of Israel went in before his brethren to a harlot of Madian, in the sight of Moses, and of all the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle.

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 when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst; of the multitude, and taking a dagger,

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;

Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together, to wit, the man and the woman in the genital parts. And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel:

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

And there were slain four and twenty thousand men.

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.

Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them, that I myself might not destroy the children of Israel in my zeal.

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

Therefore say to him: Behold I give him the peace of my covenant,

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 the covenant of the priesthood for ever shall be both to him and his seed, because he hath been zealous for his God, and hath made atonement for the wickedness 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;

And the name of the Israelite, was slain with the woman of Madian, was Zambri the son of Salu, a prince the kindred and tribe of Simeon.

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 Madianite woman, that was slain with him, was called Cozbi the daughter of Sur, a most noble prince among the Madianites.

16 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

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

Let the Madianites find you enemies, and slay you 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.”

Because they also have acted like enemies against you, and have guilefully deceived you by the idol Phogor, and Cozbi their sister, a daughter of a prince of Madian, who was slain in the day the plague for the sacrilege of Phogor.