Numbers 25

And Israel abode in ^aShittim, and ^bthe people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. ² And ^cthey called the people unto the ^dsacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and ^ebowed down to their gods. ³ And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and ^fthe anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel. ⁴ And the LORD said unto Moses, ^gTake all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, ^hthat the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel. ⁵ And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, ⁱSlay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.

⁶ 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, ^jwho were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. ⁷ And when Phinehas, ^kthe son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; ⁸ And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. ⁹ And ^lthose that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

¹⁰ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ^{11 m}Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in ⁿmy jealousy. ¹² Wherefore say, ^oBehold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: ¹³ And he shall have it, and ^phis seed after him, even the covenant of ^qan everlasting priesthood; because he was ^rzealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. ¹⁴ Now the name of the Israelite that was slain, even that was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a prince of a chief house among the Simeonites. ¹⁵ And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, and of a chief house in Midian.

¹⁶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, ¹⁷ Vex the Midianites, and smite them: ¹⁸ For they vex you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, which was slain in the day of the plague for Peor's sake.

Numbers 26